Bagram Airfield Handed to Afghans as Threat of Taliban Takeover Increases

The Pentagon confirmed Friday that Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, was turned over to Afghan forces after two decades of American use for attacks against al-Qaida following 9/11.

The handover to Afghan National Security and Defense Forces comes as the Biden administration continues its withdrawal from Afghanistan, now set to be completed before the target date of the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 individuals on U.S. soil.

As control of the now-former center of American power in Afghanistan is transferred, the Taliban continues its campaign to retake the country. Toward the end of June, the terrorist group swept across northern Afghanistan, taking dozens of districts, some of which were surrendered by Afghan forces without a fight as the country's military morale falls and manpower is stretched thin.

Reportedly numbering around 260,000, the Afghan security forces — trained and equipped by the U.S. military over the last twenty years — "should be strong enough to prevent the Taliban from seizing power in the immediate aftermath" of American forces' departure in early September. Afghanistan's government, however, is not expected to retain control over the country for long and hundreds of Afghan security force members have been captured or killed by the Taliban as its offensive to retake the country begins.

A June report from the U.S. intelligence community concluded that the government of Afghanistan could collapse within six months of America's withdrawal.