Soviet period during U.S. President
Eisenhower's visit in 1959. Bagram Airfield was built by the Soviet Union in the 1950's. It was during the early period of the
Cold War when the United States and the neighboring Soviet Union were spreading political influence in Afghanistan. While the United States was focusing on Afghanistan, the Soviets were strengthening ties with
Cuba. In 1959, a year after
Afghan Prime Minister Daud Khan toured the United States,
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower landed at Bagram Airfield where he was greeted by
King Zahir Shah and Daud Khan among other Afghan officials. In 1976, the original runway , was built. The airport at Bagram was maintained by the
Afghan Air Force (AAF) with some support from the United States. During the 1980s
Soviet–Afghan War, it played a key role, serving as a hub for the
Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan operations and a base for its troops and supplies. Bagram was also the initial staging point for the invading Soviet forces at the beginning of the conflict, with elements of two
Soviet Airborne Troops'
divisions being deployed there. Aircraft based at Bagram, including the 368th Assault Aviation Regiment flying
Su-25s, provided close air support for Soviet and Afghan troops in the field. The 368th Assault Aviation Regiment was stationed at Bagram from October 1986 to November 1987.
MiG-21 fighter jets at Bagram, 1980 Some of the Soviet land forces based at Bagram included the
108th Motor Rifle Division and the
345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment of the
105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet forces and the rise of the
Western-funded and Pakistani-trained mujahideen rebels, Afghanistan plunged into civil war. Many of its support buildings and base housing built by the
Soviet Armed Forces during their
occupation were destroyed by years of fighting between various warring Afghan factions after the Soviets left. From 1999 onward, control of the base was contested between the
Northern Alliance and
Taliban, often with each controlling territory on opposite ends of the airfield. Reports also indicated that Northern Alliance rocket attacks on
Kabul had been staged from Bagram, possibly with Russian-made
FROG-7 Rockets. In 2000, the Taliban took over control and forced the Northern Alliance to retreat further to the north.
21st century speaks to U.S. troops at Bagram on 16 December 2001. During the
U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the base was secured by a team from the United Kingdom's
Special Boat Service. By early December 2001, U.S. troops from the
10th Mountain Division shared the base with Special Operations Command officers from
MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, Paratroopers of the
82nd Airborne Division from
Fort Bragg, and a small communications team consisting of personnel from the 269th Signal Company,
11th Signal Brigade from
Fort Huachuca. The British force consisted of B and C Companies from
40 Commando,
Royal Marines. As of mid-December 2001 more than 300 U.S. troops, mainly with the 10th Mountain Division, were providing force protection at Bagram. The troops patrolled the base perimeter, guarded the front gate, and cleared the runway of explosive ordnance. As of early January 2002, the number of 10th Mountain Division troops had grown to about 400 soldiers. There were numerous dining facilities at Bagram Airfield. Troops and civilians had various dining options that included
Pizza Hut,
Subway, an Afghan restaurant, as well as Green Beans coffee shops. In late January 2002, there were somewhere around 4,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, of which about 3,000 were at
Kandahar International Airport, and about 500 were stationed at Bagram. The runway began to be repaired by U.S., Italian, and Polish military personnel. By mid-June 2002, Bagram Airfield was serving as home to more than 7,000 U.S. and other armed services. Numerous tent areas housed the troops based there, including one named Viper City. It was reported that "Bagram came under daily rocket attack" in 2002 even though most of these attacks went unreported by the press.
Landmines were also a serious concern in and around Bagram Airfield. According to
Reuters, in the early years of the conflict, the CIA used it as a
black site for terrorism suspects. were replacing the standard shelter option for troops. There were several hundred, with plans to build close to 800 of them. The plans were to have nearly 1,200 structures built by 2006, but completion of the project was expected much earlier; possibly by July 2004. The increased construction fell under U.S. Central Command standards of temporary housing and allowed for the building of B-huts on base, not to show permanence, but to raise the standard for troops serving here. The wooden structures had no concrete foundation and thus were not considered permanent housing, just an upgrade from the tents, the only option Bagram personnel and troops had seen previously. The small homes offered troops protection from environmental conditions including wind, snow, sand and cold. During 2005, a
USO facility was built and named after former pro football player and
United States Army Ranger,
Pat Tillman.
George W. Bush and wife
Laura Bush arrive at Bagram Airfield in
Air Force One on 1 March 2006. A second runway, long, was built and completed by the United States in late 2006, at a cost of US$68 million. This new runway is longer than the previous one and thicker, giving it the ability to land larger aircraft, such as the
C-5 Galaxy,
C-17 Globemaster III,
Il-76,
An-124,
An-225 or the
Boeing 747 (which is used by civilian cargo airlines). By 2007, Bagram had become the size of a small town, with traffic jams and many commercial shops selling goods from clothes to food. The base itself is situated high up in the mountains and sees temperatures drop to . The
2007 Bagram Airfield bombing was a
suicide attack that killed up to 23 people and injured 20 more, at a time when
Dick Cheney, then
Vice-President of the United States, was visiting Afghanistan. Four of the Afghans have also faced charges, while three of them have been held as
material witnesses. The GI's are reported to have received over 100,000 dollars in bribes. In March 2009, a car bomb exploded outside the gates of Bagram Airfield facilities, wounding three civilian workers. In June 2009, two U.S. soldiers were killed and at least six other personnel were wounded during an early morning rocket attack. In October 2009,
The State reported on Bagram's expansion. It reported that Bagram was currently undergoing US$200 million expansion projects, and called the Airfield a "boom town". According to the article: "Official U.S. policy is not to create a permanent occupation force in Afghanistan. But it is clear from what's happening at Bagram Airfield—the Afghan end of the
Charleston-to-Afghanistan lifeline—that the U.S. military won't be packing up soon." In November 2009, construction of the
Parwan Detention Facility was completed. It housed about 3,000 inmates, mostly insurgents who were fighting against Afghanistan and
NATO-led
forces. In March 2010, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) installed 150 solar powered lights to address reports of sexual assaults at the base. Eight reported sexual assaults occurred at the base in 2009 involving Airmen; the U.S. Army's sexual assault response team reported treating 45 victims in 2009. The report revealed that most victims knew their attacker. In same month, insurgents attacked an area at the base with rockets. One of the rockets landed next to a
B-Hut in a camp located on the west side of the base killing a Bosnian national, who was working at Bagram as a contract firefighter. at Bagram in 2012 In May 2010, a group of "nearly a dozen" insurgents attacked around the north end of the base. The assault left one U.S. contractor dead while nine service members were reported wounded. A spokesman for Bagram said a building was slightly damaged during the attack. Taliban spokesman claimed 20 armed men wearing suicide vests attacked the base with four detonating explosives at the entrances, but the military spokesman said they failed "to breach the perimeter" and were "unable to detonate their suicide vests." The attackers were dressed in U.S. Army uniforms. Early on the morning of 30 December 2010, Taliban militants fired two rockets on Bagram though no casualties were reported. The insurgents claimed responsibility for the incident. After the
2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests the United States decided to transfer the running of the
Parwan Detention Facility to
Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), although the Americans continued to have access to the facility and veto power over the release of inmates. On 18 June 2013, the base was the subject of a mortar attack by
Taliban forces, which resulted in four U.S. troops being killed and several others wounded. On
Thanksgiving evening in 2013, a rocket attack killed 2 civilian contractors as they slept in their B hut on the southern part of the field. As part of the
US withdrawal from Afghanistan, after nearly 20 years of continuous U.S. presence at the site, the Bagram Air Base was secretly evacuated by the U.S. during the night on 1 July 2021 and de facto handed back to the Afghan government on 2 July 2021. The last remaining U.S. troops left the base by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the
Afghan Armed Forces. The base was looted by local civilians soon after U.S. forces left the area. The
Afghan National Army later took control of the area and arrested some looters. On 15 August 2021, Afghan troops stationed there fell back from their positions, leaving them to the
Taliban and losing control of the airfield. The Taliban freed thousands of prisoners, including senior Al-Qaeda and Taliban figures from the prison complex.
Post-American control On 9 March 2024,
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) fighters claimed responsibility for an attack which killed the Bagram Division's chief of staff. On 14 August 2024, the Taliban celebrated the three-year anniversary of their
victory against the United States and Western powers at Bagram Airfield. During a
state visit to the United Kingdom in September 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump disclosed that the United States was "trying" to take back possession of the airfield. According to
CNN, three people familiar with the matter stated that discussions about returning the base to U.S. control had been underway for at least 6 months. The Taliban rejected the idea out of hand. He cited China's proximity as a key reason for seeking to regain control of the base, stating that the facility is located "an hour away from where [China] makes its nuclear weapons." At the seventh Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan in October 2025, regional powers-including India, China, Russia, Iran, and Central Asian states issued a joint statement implicitly opposing Trump's demand to reclaim the strategic airbase. The statement "called unacceptable the attempts by countries to deploy their military infrastructure in Afghanistan and neighboring states, since this does not serve the interests of regional peace and stability." Taliban spokesperson
Zabihullah Mujahid stated that "Afghans will never allow their land to be handed over to anyone under any circumstances," rejecting the possibility of foreign military presence in the country. Similarly, Zakir Jalaly, an official with the
Afghan Foreign Ministry, dismissed the notion of the base being returned to the U.S.
2026 Afghanistan-Pakistan war On 1 March 2026, Pakistan's information minister,
Attaullah Tarar, stated that 46 locations across Afghanistan had been targeted by air strikes since the start of the Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, including Bagram Airfield. Afghan officials claimed they had repelled the aerial attack on Bagram Airfield using
ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns, and the airfield suffered no damage. However, satellite imagery published by
New York Times showed that a hangar and two warehouses at the base had been destroyed. Pakistani officials also stated that the strike on Bagram Airfield had destroyed military supplies. ==Camp Vance==