US President Donald Trump, speaking at the Department of Justice, once again referred to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan as the “most embarrassing” day in American history.

According to Trump, the US was interested in keeping Bagram Airbase due to its strategic proximity to China, but now, he claims, China controls the base.

He said that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan emboldened its adversaries, including Russia.
“If you look at Afghanistan, that was probably what got Putin started, because when he saw how horribly we looked… I think the most embarrassing day—not that we got out. I would have been out faster than them. But we would have kept Bagram, the big air force base,” Trump said. “The reason we would have kept it is because they were one hour away from where China has and builds its nuclear weapons, and they gave that up. In the dark of night, they left the lights on.”
This is not the first time Trump has spoken about Bagram Airbase. In the past, he has repeatedly emphasized its importance to the US and has claimed that China now controls it—a claim the Taliban-led Afghan government has dismissed as baseless.

Idris Mohammadi Zazi, a political analyst, stated: "After its defeat, the US has launched a new battle—this time a propaganda campaign—against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, attempting to undermine the Emirate’s political and economic system."

Although Trump has frequently criticized the manner of the US withdrawal and the military equipment left behind in Afghanistan, his Afghanistan policy remains unclear.