{"id":730339,"date":"2021-09-08T12:21:25","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=730339"},"modified":"2021-09-08T12:21:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:21:27","slug":"reports-china-eyes-takeover-of-us-air-base-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reports-china-eyes-takeover-of-us-air-base-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Reports: China Eyes Takeover of US Air Base in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freports-china-eyes-takeover-of-us-air-base-in-afghanistan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=730339&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"29.042904290429\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/\">National Security<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Bagram Air Base was largest U.S. installation in Afghanistan before Biden withdrawal<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1233765323-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1233765323-1.jpg 736w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1233765323-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1233765323-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tA single Afghan soldier patrols Bagram Air Base after the American withdrawal \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/jack-beyrer\/\" title=\"Posts by Jack Beyrer\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Jack Beyrer<\/a> \u2022 September 8, 2021 12:10 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"68.492279020234\">\n<p>The Chinese military is reportedly eyeing a move into Bagram Air Base, only weeks after the Biden administration ordered a withdrawal from what was the United States&#8217; largest military installation in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple sources <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/world-report\/articles\/2021-09-07\/china-weighing-occupation-of-former-us-air-base-at-bagram-sources?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=EBB%2009.08.21&amp;utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confirmed<\/a> to <em>U.S. News<\/em>&nbsp;that the Chinese military is assessing the feasibility of sending soldiers and other officials to the abandoned military base, which the Biden administration shuttered in July before a full withdrawal from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Top officials in Beijing deny they are pursuing a takeover of the base. &#8220;I can tell you this is purely fake news,&#8221; Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/theaters\/middle_east\/2021-09-07\/bagram-air-base-china-taliban-afghanistan-american-withdrawal-2806178.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Generals and lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/biden-contradicts-milley-on-decision-to-abandon-bagram\/\">warned<\/a> President Biden against giving up the base, which was the largest American installation on China&#8217;s western border, during the Taliban offensive. The president went ahead with the withdrawal in spite of the warnings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Should the United States and China come to blows in the Pacific, a second front will be critical given China&#8217;s ability to concentrate its naval and missile assets around Taiwan,&#8221; House Armed Services Committee member Mike Waltz (R., Fla.), a former Green Beret, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2021\/05\/03\/why-afghanistan-is-critical-to-the-struggle-against-china-russia-and-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> in May. &#8220;Unexplainably, in addition to giving up the only air base in the world located in a country that physically borders China and Russia&#8217;s southern border, the Biden administration will also give up a key strategic foothold along Iran&#8217;s eastern flank, and along the nuclear-equipped and unstable Pakistan.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>China is reportedly considering the takeover as part of its Belt and Road initiative, which advances Chinese economic influence in Central Asia and beyond. The Taliban has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/taliban-call-china-trustworthy-friend\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expressed<\/a> interest in joining the initiative. Chinese diplomats last week hosted Taliban leaders but <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/kerry-reduced-to-zoom-as-ccp-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-taliban\/\">relegated<\/a> a meeting with Biden climate czar John Kerry to a Zoom conference.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Security Bagram Air Base was largest U.S. installation in Afghanistan before Biden withdrawal  A single Afghan soldier patrols Bagram Air Base after the American withdrawal &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-730339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}