Taliban rejects Trump’s plan to reclaim Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan

“The Afghans have not accepted a military presence in history”

- BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that he is working to reestablish a US presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after America's chaotic withdrawal from the country left the base in the Taliban's hands.

Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London as he wrapped up a state visit to the UK and tied it to the need for the US to counter its top rival, China.

Late Thursday, Zakir Jalaly, an official at the Taliban Foreign Ministry, dismissed the idea of the US returning to Bagram. "Afghanistan and the US need to interact with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common interests," Jalaly said on the social platform X.

He added: "The Afghans have not accepted a military presence in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the door is open for further interaction."

(The Bagram Air Base) is in Parwan Province in Afghanistan, about an hour’s drive north of Kabul. It was originally built in the 1950s by the Afghan government with Soviet assistance. The Soviets used it heavily during their invasion (1979-89) as a major base of operations.