President Donald Trump’s proposal to retake Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan highlights important strategic advantages, but the plan must avoid risking American troops, former Trump National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz told Newsmax on Sunday.
“I have reservations about sending American troops back into Afghanistan,” Fleitz told Newsmax’s “Sunday Report.” “I hope this is a solid plan.”
He added that he agrees with The Washington Post’s endorsement of Trump’s plans, stating that taking Bagram back would be “helpful in fighting terrorism, but it would give us a presence close to China’s nuclear test site in Lop Nor in far western China. Those are good reasons.”
Trump also has leverage with the Taliban because the group is seeking access to about $7 billion in frozen assets held in U.S. banks, Fleitz pointed out.
“If there’s a solid plan that doesn’t threaten American troops, and I need to be convinced of that, I think there’s a way to get this done and the reasons to do it. But I’d like to hear more about this plan,” he said.
Turning to Middle East politics, Fleitz criticized the United Kingdom’s move to formally recognize a Palestinian state, joining Canada and Australia. He said such recognition undermines Israel’s security and rewards Hamas in the aftermath of its 2023 massacre.
“Israel has offered Palestine a separate state four times since 1947,” he said. “The U.S. offered it the deal of the century in 2000, but it was never enough. Now that Hamas is at war with Israel and after the horrific Hamas massacre of 2023, when Hamas murdered, killed, and raped, these Western states are offering Hamas what it wants. It’s reprehensible. It’s rewarding terrorism. And the U.K. should be ashamed of itself.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, president of Project Sentinel, also agreed that Trump’s call to retake Bagram underscores its strategic importance, but he said the president is more likely to use diplomacy and financial pressure than military action.
“Well, militarily, it would not be that difficult to take back. But I don’t think it’s what he’s going to do,” Shaffer said. “Bagram was not only the main hub for the prosecution of our war in Afghanistan, including launching the resources that got bin Laden from Bagram. It is also very close to China. And of course, having a foothold there is good.”
Shaffer said Trump could lean on Pakistan and international organizations that provide funds to the Taliban, adding that the Biden administration “left the Taliban very well-heeled financially. If you start threatening their finances, there may be a turning point where they are more open to this as a possibility.”
Shaffer also called the U.K.’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state “disappointing,” commenting that it plays into decades of propaganda from the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
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