A United States defense official has dismissed recent reports claiming that the US military has taken control of the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and flown a transport plane to the area, calling them “not true.” According to AFP, the official confirmed, “There is no US military presence in Bagram.”
The Central Intelligence Agency has also rejected similar claims, specifically denying that its Deputy Director, Michael Ellis, traveled to the airfield. “Reports that CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis was at Bagram Air Base are false,” CIA Director of Public Affairs Liz Lyons said in a statement issued on Friday.
Echoing these denials, the spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, refuted the rumors, stating that no US military planes have landed at the Bagram facility. “The IEA will not allow this to happen,” he said.
Located approximately 40 kilometers north-east of Kabul, Bagram Air Base served as the central hub for US and NATO forces during the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan. The base was vacated by foreign troops in July 2021 and handed over to the former Afghan government.
