The Taliban rejects Trump’s bid to retake Bagram air base in Afghanistan
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Sunday rejected President Trump’s bid to retake Bagram air base, four years after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country left the sprawling military facility in the Taliban’s hands.
Trump on Saturday renewed his call to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram, saying that “we’re talking now to Afghanistan” about the matter. He did not offer further details about the purported conversations. Asked by a reporter whether he’d consider deploying U.S. troops to take the base, Trump demurred.
“We won’t talk about that,” he said. “We want it back, and we want it back right away. If they don’t do it, you’re going to find out what I’m going to do.”
On Sunday, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Trump’s assertions and urged the U.S. to adopt a policy of “realism and rationality.”
Posting on X, Mujahid said that Afghanistan had an economy-oriented foreign policy and sought constructive relations with all states on the basis of mutual and shared interests.
It had been consistently communicated to the U.S. in all bilateral negotiations that Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity were of the utmost importance, he said.
“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,’” Mujahid said. The U.S. needed to remain faithful to its commitments, he added.
Mujahid did not reply to questions from the Associated Press about conversations with the Trump administration regarding Bagram and why Trump believed the U.S. could retake it.
‘Ceding Afghan soil is out of the question’
Earlier Sunday, the chief of staff at the Afghan Defense Ministry, Fasihuddin Fitrat, addressed Trump’s comments. “Ceding even an inch of our soil to anyone is out of the question and impossible,” he said during a speech broadcast by Afghan media.
In August last year, the Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of its takeover at Bagram with a grand military display of abandoned U.S. hardware, catching the eye of the White House.
Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor, President Biden, for his handling of the withdrawal of U.S. forces after America’s longest war. Biden had blamed Trump for a deal he made with the Taliban just before the end of his first term as setting the stage for a difficult withdrawal.
Trump last week during his state visit to the United Kingdom hinted that the Taliban, which has struggled with international legitimacy and has faced an economic crisis, internal rifts and rival militant groups since its return to power in 2021, could be game to allow the U.S. military to return.
“We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Trump said of the Taliban. While the U.S. and the Taliban government have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had hostage conversations. An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist was released by the Taliban in March.
The Taliban also said it reached an agreement with U.S. envoys on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the two countries.
Taliban officials gave no details of the detainee swap, and the White House did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from the talks, showing its foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler.
