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PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – It would be a huge coup if he did. Trump suggested that he is working to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from the country left the base in the Taliban’s hands.
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said of the base.
Trump has repeatedly expressed regret that the base was abandoned by Biden, arguing that Washington should have maintained a small force, not because of Afghanistan but because of its location near China.
“…one of the reasons we want that base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
It is unclear if the U.S. has any new direct or indirect conversations with the Taliban government about returning to the country.
But Trump hinted that the Taliban, who have struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since their return to power in 2021, could be game to allow the U.S. military to return.
However, Afghanistan has rejected a call from President Trump for the U.S. military to return to the country and reclaim the Bagram airbase.
A foreign ministry official declared on social media that Kabul is ready to engage with the U.S. but that the U.S. will not be allowed to re-establish a military presence in the central Asian country.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:
NATIONAL SECURITY
For Trump’s Golden Dome national missile defense system to work, it needs to be put to the test.
HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. military will soon have teams that can respond within 24 hours to drone incursions at homeland installations.
Coast Guard seizes 75,000 pounds of cocaine through Operation Pacific Viper, averages over 1,800 pounds interdicted per day.
Lawyers for U.S. victims of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel are suing groups designated by the federal government as terrorist organizations, alleging they participated, aided or provided material support for the assault.
Crackdown on Charlie Kirk critics has ignited a free speech debate. Legal experts say it sets a dangerous precedent.
Senators said the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean may have violated the War Powers Resolution and the Law of Armed Conflict.
Navy admiral who has led the fleet in the Middle East as the U.S. defended against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea is the choice to be the service’s highest-ranking officer in Europe and Africa.
Trump’s pick to be the next Pentagon chief information officer, told lawmakers that she plans to shake up the Pentagon’s IT enterprise, if confirmed.
Pentagon needs a Digital Command and a Digital Warfare Corps, along with other changes, to take advantage of critical new technologies, according to think tank.
US POWER OVERSEAS
Recent Air Force special-operations exercise in the Caribbean showcased an operating concept designed to counter near-peer militaries—and might be a message to unfriendly governments and criminal groups in the Americas.
Guam man has been sentenced to two months of home confinement for flying a personal drone over a military installation on the U.S. island territory.
CHINA THREAT
How the rapid pace of AI connects to China’s threats toward Taiwan. Ten years ago, if you said AI might surpass human-level intelligence by the year 2029, no one in Washington would have taken you seriously. That has dramatically changed.
What looks to be a previously unseen Chinese low-observable (stealth) flying-wing drone variant with a ‘cranked kite’ planform has emerged in a satellite image from China’s secretive test base near Malan in the country’s far western Xinjiang province.
RUSSIA THREAT
There is “absolutely no evidence” that Russia’s Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine, the head of Britain’s MI6 said.
With little chance of NATO membership for Ukraine, the country’s Western allies have an alternate strategy for helping it repel Russian aggression: invest billions in Ukraine’s weapons industry so it can better defend itself.
U.S. approved $780 million sale of Javelin missiles to Poland as Russia threat grows.
Ukraine has agreed to train Polish soldiers and engineers in drone defense.
Russia is shrewdly playing the long game in Africa. What if Moscow’s most dangerous moves right now aren’t in Europe, but along the Gulf of Guinea?
MIDDLE EAST THREATS
U.S. vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding immediate Gaza ceasefire and hostage release, saying that the effort did not go far enough in condemning Hamas.
Syrian Foreign Minister made a historic visit to Capitol Hill, the first Syrian government representative to hold official meetings with the U.S. in 25 years.
Jordanian aid truck driver opened fire and killed two people at an Israeli-run border crossing in the West Bank. Four IDF soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip, and a drone had struck in the area of the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
Nearly half of Americans in a recent survey said Israel has “gone too far” in its war with Hamas in Gaza.
Gulf Cooperation Council convened in Doha, announcing its intent to boost defense ties between member states in response to the Israeli strike on Hamas targets in Qatar earlier this month.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
North Korea’s ‘Supreme Leader’ Kim Jong Un has said the use of artificial intelligence is a “top priority” in modernizing his country’s increasingly sophisticated weapons technology and building up drone capabilities.
SPACE THREATS
U.S. Space Command and U.K. Space Command have conducted their first-ever coordinated satellite maneuvers, known as rendezvous and proximity operations, just months after the U.S. conducted similar operations with France.
Space Force is moving ahead with plans to tap commercial geostationary small-satellite constellations to bolster military communications.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
As part of new Trump deal, Britain will help build military surveillance aircraft for the U.S. for the first time in more than fifty years, under a new contract with Boeing.
NATO uncrewed bus-sized hydrogen-powered autonomous surveillance airship has been floating over Portuguese waters, collecting imagery of ships and other objects for situational awareness of the maritime domain.
Japan tracked several Russian and Chinese warships sailing on separate voyages near Japanese waters over the last week and tracked a Chinese Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and a Chinese Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) operating around its southwest region.
US MILITARY
Army helicopter assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord with 4 aboard was on a routine training mission when it crashed in Washington state not far from the base.
Navy plans to inactivate or transfer eight ships during fiscal 2026, including two warships and six auxiliary ships.
Happy Birthday Air Force. The first-ever Secretary of the Air Force was worn in 78 years ago today—and with that the Air Force became the first new U.S. military service since the Revolutionary War.
Rare ‘naked’ E-4B ‘Doomsday Plane’ spotted flying in Texas. One of the Air Force’s four Nightwatch jets was completely stripped of paint and with much of its skin covered in a green zinc chromate coating.
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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No chance that the last administration deliberately aided the Chinese by abandoning the base?