It would allow the US to again project power in the region, with China close by. But taking it back won't be easy.

Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base is about 1,200 miles from an old Chinese nuclear test range, but controlling the base would require the reentry of U.S. personnel into Afghanistan.

United States President Donald Trump has demanded that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban hand the country’s Bagram airbase over to Washington, five years after he signed a deal with the group that paved ...