Published on, Sept. 22 -- September 22, 2025 3:34 AM

When Donald Trump thundered that the Taliban must "hand back" Bagram airbase or face "bad things," it was more than a headline-grabbing remark. It reopened Afghanistan's old wound: the tug-of-war between foreign powers and local rulers over who truly commands the Hindu Kush. Bagram, for those who have forgotten, is not just a dusty airstrip. At its peak, it housed 10,000 US troops, two runways large enough for heavy bombers, and a prison that became a byword for America's long war. More importantly, it lies less than 400 kilometres from China's Xinjiang, within range of Tehran, and a short hop from Central Asia. Whoever holds Bagram occupies a front-row seat in the geopolitics of three...