Sitting on the site of the ancient town of Bagram at an elevation of 1,492 metres (4,895 ft) above sea level, the air base has two concrete runways.

[6] Kabul International Airport is located approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of Bagram, connected by two separate roads.

During the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War, it played a key role, serving as a hub for the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan operations and a base for its troops and supplies.

Aircraft based at Bagram, including the 368th Assault Aviation Regiment flying Su-25s, provided close air support for Soviet and Afghan troops in the field.

Taliban forces were consistently within artillery and mortar range of the field, denying full possession of the strategic facility to the Northern Alliance.

Press reports indicated that at times a Northern Alliance general was using the bombed-out control tower as an observation post and as a location to brief journalists, with his headquarters nearby.

During the US-led retribution on the Taliban for harboring the terrorist organization responsible for 9/11, the base was secured by a team from the United Kingdom's Special Boat Service.

By early December 2001, troops from the 10th Mountain Division shared the base with Special Operations Command officers from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, and a small communications team consisting of personnel from the 269th Signal Company, 11th Signal Brigade out of Fort Huachuca.

Troops and civilians had various dining options that included Pizza Hut, Subway, an Afghan restaurant, as well as Green Beans coffee shops.

The wooden structures had no concrete foundation and thus were not considered permanent housing, just an upgrade from the tents, the only option Bagram personnel and troops had seen previously.

During 2005, a USO facility was built and named after former pro football player and United States Army Ranger, Pat Tillman.

This new runway is 497 metres (1,631 ft) longer than the previous one and 280 millimetres (11 in) thicker, giving it the ability to land larger aircraft, such as the C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III, Il-76, An-124, An-225 or the Boeing 747 (which is used by civilian cargo airlines).

[21] By 2007, Bagram had become the size of a small town, with traffic jams and many commercial shops selling goods from clothes to food.

[3] The 2007 Bagram Airfield bombing was a suicide attack that killed up to 23 people and injured 20 more, at a time when Dick Cheney, then Vice-President of the United States, was visiting Afghanistan.

This claim is supported by the relatively limited number of large suicide bombings carried out in Afghanistan, combined with the intensity of this particular attack, and the fact that Cheney was at the base.

In March 2010, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) installed 150 solar powered lights to address reports of sexual assaults at the base.

One of the rockets landed next to a B-Hut in a camp located on the west side of the base killing a Bosnian national, who was working at Bagram as a contract firefighter.

[43] On 9 March 2024, National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) fighters claimed responsibility for an attack which killed the Bagram Division's chief of staff.

[45] Camp Vance, Afghanistan[46] was the base, 1.4 km from the airfield, established in December 2002 by the United States Department of Defense to headquarter the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF).

[47] The camp was named for Gene Arden Vance Jr., a member of the U.S. Special Forces and a cryptologic linguist who, despite being critically wounded, helped save the lives of two fellow Americans and 18 Afghan soldiers during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the War in Afghanistan.

[51] Apart from military and intelligence personnel, the only people officially allowed inside the prison building were Red Cross representatives who inspected the facility once every two weeks.

[50] However, some interrogators routinely administered harsh treatment which included alleged beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, shackling to ceilings, and threats with guard dogs.

As of November 2011,[update] more than 3,000 alleged militants and foreign terrorists were detained at PDF, roughly 18 times as many as in Guantanamo Bay.

Alleged prisoner abuse at Bagram by U.S. personnel was the subject of the 2007 Academy Award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side.

The film details the severe beatings and torture, and ultimate death, of an Afghan taxi driver being held at the Parwan Detention Facility.