KABUL – The Taliban has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed call for Washington to regain control of Bagram Air Base, warning the United States against threats to Afghanistan’s sovereignty.
Trump on Saturday threatened “bad things” would happen if authorities in Kabul did not return the base, located 64 kilometers north of the capital.
Once the largest U.S. military installation in Afghanistan, Bagram served as the hub for America’s two-decade war before it fell to the Taliban in 2021 during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump said his administration was “talking now to Afghanistan” about the base, but declined to say whether he would consider sending U.S. troops to seize it.
“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,” he said.
Taliban authorities dismissed the threat as unacceptable. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid urged the U.S. to act with “realism and rationality,” stressing that Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity were non-negotiable.
“Ceding even an inch of our soil to anyone is out of the question and impossible,” Defense Ministry chief of staff Fasihuddin Fitrat said in a televised speech.
Since retaking power, the Taliban have showcased Bagram as a symbol of their victory, parading abandoned U.S. equipment at the base during last year’s third-anniversary celebrations.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly lamented the loss of Bagram due mainly to its strategic location near China.
While the Taliban face mounting economic pressure, international isolation, and rivalry from groups such as ISIS-K, the ruling regime says they are open to engaging Washington only on political and economic terms.
“Afghanistan and the United States need to engage without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Taliban’s Foreign Ministry official Zakir Jalal said on X.
