Without further action, action that would have to be military, President Donald Trump’s recent statement of his wish that the U.S. recover the Bagram Air Base from its current governors, the Taliban thugs, will be less effectual than his announcements that the U.S. must incorporate Canada or Greenland.
“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” the president all-capped on Truth Social. Hey, replied a Taliban spokesman, on Ex-Twitter: “Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity are of the utmost importance” (The Hill, September 21, 2025). It seems that President Trump can learn something about moderation of tone from the Taliban.
Trump says: “We’re trying to get the base because of where it is. It’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. It’s a location that should never have been given up.”
China also opposes “Trump’s Bid to Reclaim Bagram Air Base.”
Greenland
On the day of his second inauguration, President Trump said that U.S. possession of Greenland is “necessary for international security…. You have Russian boats all over the place, you have China’s boats all over the place—warships—and [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”
In March, he was saying that the U.S. would “go as far as we have to go” to get Greenland, for the sake of “national security and international security….
“And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security.”
Denmark never really warmed to the idea of selling Greenland to the United States. Moreover, U.S. seizing of Greenland would be bad move, CSIS explained. To top it all off, the world at large was outraged by Trump’s declarations.
Nevertheless, we are hearing now that in response to increases in threatening activity in the far-northern part of the earth by both Russia and China, sometimes acting in concert, Denmark has begun “hosting its biggest ever military drills, ramping up Arctic defense spending by more than $2 billion, establishing an Arctic special forces group and purchasing new naval vessels and long-range drones.”
CNN says that the point of the stepped-up military activity may be “less a warning to Russia and China, perhaps, than a plea to the US for respect as a capable and committed Arctic ally” (September 16, 2025).
Perhaps Trump helped jump-start something. Let the whole semi-free world thus be annoyed into action. But is it plausible that Denmark’s politicians and military men regard the matter of attending to the Chinese and Russian threats as less important than proving how very wrong about Denmark are the United States and Donald Trump?
Also see:
CNA: “Exploring the Relationship between China’s Investment in the Arctic and Its National Strategy”
StoptheCCP.org: “Fake Neighbor China’s Fake Neighborliness in the Arctic”
