{"id":47705,"date":"2025-09-22T02:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T07:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47705"},"modified":"2025-09-22T04:53:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T09:53:06","slug":"taliban-reject-trumps-bid-to-retake-bagram-air-base-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47705","title":{"rendered":"Taliban reject Trump’s bid to retake Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The Taliban government on Sunday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s bid to retake Bagram Air Base<\/a>, four years after America\u2019s chaotic withdrawal<\/a> from Afghanistan left the sprawling military facility<\/a> in the Taliban’s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Saturday renewed his call to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram, even saying \u201cwe\u2019re talking now to Afghanistan\u201d about the matter. He did not offer further details about the purported conversations. Asked by a reporter if he\u2019d consider deploying U.S. troops to take the base, Trump demurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t talk about that,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe want it back, and we want it back right away. If they don\u2019t do it, you\u2019re going to find out what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Trump\u2019s assertions and urged the U.S. to adopt a policy of \u201crealism and rationality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afghanistan had an economy-oriented foreign policy and sought constructive relations with all states on the basis of mutual and shared interests, Mujahid posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It had been consistently communicated to the U.S. in all bilateral negotiations that Afghanistan\u2019s independence and territorial integrity were of the utmost importance, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt should be recalled that, under the Doha Agreement, the United States pledged that \u2018it will not use or threaten force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Afghanistan, nor interfere in its internal affairs,\u2019\u201d he said. The U.S. needed to remain faithful to its commitments, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier Sunday, the chief of staff at the Defense Ministry, Fasihuddin Fitrat, addressed Trump’s comments. \u201cCeding even an inch of our soil to anyone is out of the question and impossible,\u201d he said during a speech broadcast by Afghan media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August last year, the Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of their takeover at Bagram with a grand military display<\/a> of abandoned U.S. hardware, catching the eye of the White House. Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for his \u201cgross incompetence\u201d during the withdrawal of U.S. forces after the country\u2019s longest war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump last week during his state visit to the United Kingdom hinted that the Taliban, who have struggled with an economic crisis<\/a>, international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since their return to power<\/a> in 2021, could be game to allow the U.S. military to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get it back because they need things from us,\u201d Trump said of the Taliban. While the U.S. and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had hostage conversations<\/a>. An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist was released by the Taliban<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Taliban also said they reached an agreement with U.S. envoys<\/a> on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the United States and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They 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 their talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Trump\u2019s special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The Taliban government on Sunday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s bid to retake Bagram Air Base, four years after America\u2019s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan left the sprawling military facility in the Taliban’s hands. Trump on Saturday renewed his call to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram, even saying \u201cwe\u2019re talking now to Afghanistan\u201d about the matter. He did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1251,5842,1230],"class_list":["post-47705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-afghanistan","tag-taliban","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47707,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47705\/revisions\/47707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}