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24-09-2025
KABUL: The Taliban government has rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to regain control of Bagram Air Base, which the United States abandoned to the Afghan government during its military withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country four years ago.
The United States left the country in a hasty exit that was initiated under the first Trump administration and completed under the Biden administration, which saw Afghanistan fall back under Taliban control.
Last week, Trump publicly demanded the facility be returned to US control in a bid to check China.
The Taliban on Sunday said that it is seeking “constructive relations” with all states and that it has consistently communicated to the United States that Afghanistan’s “independence and territorial integrity are of the utmost importance.”
“It should be recalled that, under the Doha agreement, the United States pledged that ‘it will not use or threaten force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Afghanistan, nor interfere in its internal affairs.’ Therefore, it is necessary that they remain faithful to their commitments,” the Taliban said in a statement shared by its deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Firat, on social media.
The Doha agreement, officially as the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan, was signed between the Taliban and the first Trump administration in February 2020, initiating the United States’ withdrawal from the country to end the two-decade war.
During a press conference in London on Thursday, Trump told reporters he was seeking to regain control of Bagram Air Base.
“We want that base back,” he said “but one of the reasons we want the base is, you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons”
He has since followed up with threats against the Taliban.
Two days ago, Trump has threatened Afghanistan with unspecified consequences unless it gives back control of the Bagram airbase to Washington.
The vague threat on Saturday came a day after the Taliban-controlled government rejected Trump’s call to return the sprawling airbase, located some 64km (40 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul.
“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Bagram, a sprawling complex, was the main base for US forces in Afghanistan during the two decades of war that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington by al-Qaeda.
Thousands of people were imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by US forces during its so-called “war on terror” and many of them were abused or tortured.
The Taliban retook the facility in 2021 following the US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan government.
Trump has often lamented the loss of access to Bagram, noting its proximity to China, but his comments on Thursday, during a visit to the United Kingdom, were the first time he had made public that he was working on the matter.
“We’re trying to get it back, by the way, that could be a little breaking news. We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump said at a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another … without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Zakir
Jalal, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, said on social media. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
