Taliban officials on Friday seemingly rejected the idea that American troops could return to Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base, a key military facility and regional hub for U.S. troops for nearly two decades but one that was given up during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The comments from Zakir Jalaly, an Afghan Foreign Ministry official, came just hours after President Trump told reporters that the U.S. is “trying to get it back,” referring to Bagram.
“Donald Trump has mentioned the issue of a deal regarding Bagram. He is a successful businessman and dealmaker beyond politics, and he also refers to the retrieval of Bagram through a deal,” Mr. Jalaly wrote on X.
“Afghanistan and America need to engage with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common benefits, without America having military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” he said. “Military presence has never been accepted by Afghans in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the [U.S.-Taliban] Doha talks and agreement, but doors to other engagements have been opened.”
On Thursday, Mr. Trump raised the notion of returning U.S. troops to Afghanistan. He said such a step could be needed to combat Chinese aggression in the region.
Mr. Trump, whose first administration negotiated the initial diplomatic deal with the Taliban that led to the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, stressed that his plan to leave Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war would’ve seen America keep control of the site.
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“We were going to leave Afghanistan, but we were going to leave it with strength and dignity, and we were going to keep Bagram, the big air base — one of the biggest air bases in the world,” Mr. Trump said during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday. “We’re trying to get it back by the way.”
“One of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Mr. Trump said.
The president also said America has leverage over the Taliban that could force them to transfer the base back to the U.S. The Taliban has struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy and rival militant groups.
But Mr. Jalaly’s comments seem to rule out any kind of deal with Washington.
Bagram, a large airfield roughly an hour’s drive north of Kabul, was a crucial U.S. military facility throughout the Afghanistan war. The sprawling facility hosted tens of thousands of American and allied troops throughout the two-decade conflict.
Critics blasted the Biden administration for ceding control of the base to the Taliban before the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal was completed. Without Bagram, the U.S. relied solely on the Kabul airport to evacuate its personnel and its Afghan allies.
Thirteen Marines were killed and more than 170 people were wounded during an ISIS attack at that airport during the chaotic U.S. exit.
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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