Freshta Jalalzai
In this Apr. 25, 2007 file photo, aircraft line the taxiway at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
I grew up not far from Bagram Airfield, which is located about 60 kilometers north of my childhood home in Kabul. Yet despite that, and the years I spent reporting on the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, I only fully appreciated Bagram’s historical importance, and the extent to which it had been overlooked in policy and strategy, during a recent visit to Germany.
A statue of Buddha sits behind glass in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, a priceless gift from the people of Afghanistan to Germany intended to lift the spirits of a war-torn nation after World War I. The relic represents a journey spanning thousands of years.
The statue came from Bagram.
Its hand gestures and symbolic motifs embody Buddhist iconography, while its Hellenistic drapery and naturalistic folds are reminiscent of Greek sculpture. This one artifact embodies the layered history of Afghanistan, and the ebb and flow of power surrounding this fabled citadel on the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountain-range.
Archaeological studies suggest that Bagram began its life as “Alexandria in the Caucasus,” founded by Alexander the Great to command the mountain passes and trade routes of Central Asia all the way to the Far East.
This legacy resurfaced during the Cold War, when Bagram became a central arena of superpower rivalry. While the Soviets set their sights on this historic stronghold in the early 1950s, U.S. engagement remained cautious and limited in scope. Vice President Richard Nixon’s visit in 1953 signaled initial U.S. interest, but policy lacked strategic depth, allowing Soviet influence to intensify. President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1959 visit added symbolic weight, yet Washington’s involvement still fell short of sustaining a strategic foothold.
In the 1960s, the Soviets transformed Bagram into a sprawling hub for projecting influence across northern Afghanistan. They extended the runway and constructed barracks, roads, and a major military plane maintenance facility. As part of its campaign, Soviet Russia also trained thousands of Afghan military pilots, technicians, and engineers who worked at the factory and maintained the aircraft.
Bagram became the largest and most fortified military installation in Afghanistan. Yet it also served as a center for cultural exchange, featuring a school that taught Russian, a theater where Soviet and Afghan artists performed, and other amenities. This setup was part of a Soviet campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, which later became the nerve center of Moscow’s 1979 invasion.
During the invasion, most Soviet bomber jets and cargo carriers operated from Bagram due to its central location. Tactical aircraft like the Su-17 and MiG-27 carried out close air support, and transports like the Ilyushin Il-76 and Antonov moved equipment and personnel across the region. A flight from Bagram to Astrakhan, one of the closest Russian settlements west of the Caspian, took roughly three hours, about the same time it takes to fly from Washington, D.C., to Miami. Depending on the aircraft, it took about the same amount of time to fly from Bagram to Makhachkala on the Caspian coast of southern Russia.
After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Soviet-backed government in 1992, Bagram fell into disrepair as Mujahedeen fighters, local thieves, and militias looted the base. Yet it rose from the ashes to once again become a hub during the U.S. and NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Between 2001 and 2021, the United States reportedly invested millions in its expansion, transforming the old Soviet-built compound into a massive, city-sized complex that featured multiple runways, over 120 acres of aircraft parking, hangars, housing, a hospital, and even fast-food outlets for thousands of personnel.
At its peak, the base hosted, at one time, more than 40,000 troops and contractors, serving as the central logistics hub for U.S. and allied operations across Afghanistan and providing a commanding position for air support and surveillance.
Through the years, local residents knew Bagram for its prison holding senior Taliban and al-Qaida figures, often called “Obama’s Gitmo.” During the Taliban’s two-decade fight against the U.S. and NATO, the release of thousands of prisoners was a central demand, culminating in the Doha Agreement and the eventual U.S. withdrawal in 2021.
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