The former U.S. and Soviet air base has been a central location for empires for thousands of years. Does Trump truly understand its significance?

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.