Trump: America Should Retrieve Remaining Military Equipment in Afghanistan

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, stated that the U.S. should take action to retrieve unused military and civilian equipment that was not brought out during the American forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan four years ago. On Wednesday, March 8, during a cabinet meeting, Trump said he had asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to look into the return of American weapons and equipment from Afghanistan. In response to a question about whether the Bagram Air Base would be reclaimed, he said, "I think we should get the equipment back. I told Pete to look into this. We left equipment worth millions, tens of billions of dollars. You see them showcasing it every year." Last week, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Trump emphasized the need to retrieve the remaining American military equipment in Afghanistan, expressing his anger at seeing the Taliban parading and using American vehicles. During the first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, in response to a journalist's question, Trump mentioned that after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, "777,000 rifles and 70,000 armored vehicles" fell into the hands of the Taliban. He stated, "I think we should get it back." The U.S. President again criticized the process of the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan, indicating that he would have dismissed those involved in the process if he were in charge. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to Trump's remarks by stating that every aspect of what happened during the withdrawal from Afghanistan would be thoroughly examined. Trump also mentioned that after the American troops left Afghanistan, the Bagram military base "fell into the hands of China." He said that if the military withdrawal had occurred during his presidency, he would have retained the Bagram base "not for Afghanistan but for China." The U.S. President noted that Bagram Airport is located one hour away from where China produces its nuclear missiles. Bagram Air Base was the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. However, American troops evacuated this airbase on July 2, 2021, handing it over to the previous Afghan government's Ministry of Defense. On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took control of the airbase. For the past two decades, from 2001 to 2021, Bagram Air Base served as the command and control center for U.S. air operations, and thousands of prisoners, especially Taliban members, were held in a prison located at this base. This base, built in the 1980s by the former Soviet Union, was considered the largest military facility for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.