<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KABUL: An Afghan government defence official said Sunday that a deal over Bagram air base was &quot;not possible&quot;, after US President Donald Trump said he wanted the former US base back. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bagram, the largest air base in Afghanistan, located north of the capital Kabul, was the centre of US operations in their 20-year war against the Taliban. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trump threatened unspecified punishment against Afghanistan if it was not returned &mdash; four years after the US troops abandoned it. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;If Afghanistan doesn&#39;t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!&quot; the 79-year-old leader wrote on his Truth Social platform. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Sunday, Fasihuddin Fitrat, chief of staff of Afghanistan&#39;s Ministry of Defence, said &quot;some people&quot; want to take back the base through a &quot;political deal&quot;. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;Recently, some people have said that they have entered negotiations with Afghanistan for taking back Bagram air base,&quot; he said in comments broadcast by local media. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;A deal over even an inch of Afghanistan&#39;s soil is not possible. We don&#39;t need it.&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later, in an official statement, the Afghan government said that &quot;Afghanistan&#39;s independence and territorial integrity are of the utmost importance.&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trump has repeatedly criticized the loss of the base, noting its proximity to China. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Thursday, on a state visit to Britain, was the first time he publicly sought control of the air base. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The US and the NATO troops chaotically pulled out of Bagram in July 2021, under Joe Biden&#39;s presidency, but as part of a 2020 Trump-brokered deal with Taliban insurgents. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The loss of crucial air power saw the Afghan military collapse just weeks later, and the Taliban regained power. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reporters asked Trump at the White House if he was considering sending US troops to retake Bagram. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;We won&#39;t talk about that, but we&#39;re talking now to Afghanistan, and we want it back and we want it back soon, right away. And if they don&#39;t do it, you&#39;re going to find out what I&#39;m going to do,&quot; he said. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A massive, sprawling facility, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have repeatedly raised allegations of systematic human rights abuses by US forces at Bagram, especially on detainees in Washington&#39;s murky &quot;War on Terror&quot;. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The original airfield was built with assistance from what was then the Soviet Union in the early 1950s, expanded with US help during the Cold War, and significantly developed further by Moscow during the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the height of US control around 2010, it had grown to the size of a small town, with supermarkets and shops including outlets such as Dairy Queen and Burger King. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was visited by several US presidents, including Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2019.

Asia

Trump says he wants it back right away, and everyone will soon find out what it will do in case of refusal.

US deal on Bagram base 'not possible': Afghan Taliban  	

Reuters

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened &quot;bad things&quot; would happen to Afghanistan if it does not give back control of the Bagram air base to the United States, and declined to rule out sending in troops to retake it.&nbsp;&quot;If Afghanistan doesn&rsquo;t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN,&quot; Trump said in a Truth Social post.&nbsp;Trump said on Thursday that the United States had sought to regain control of the base used by American forces following the attacks of September 11, 2001. He told reporters on Friday that he was speaking with Afghanistan about it.&nbsp;The withdrawal of American forces in 2021 led to a takeover of US bases and the toppling of the US-backed government in Kabul by the Islamist Taliban movement.&nbsp;Afghan officials have expressed opposition to a revived US presence.&nbsp;Current and former US officials privately caution that re-occupying Bagram air base in Afghanistan might end up looking like a re-invasion of the country, requiring more than 10,000 troops as well as deployment of advanced air defenses.&nbsp;Trump, who has previously said he wants the United States to acquire territories and sites ranging from the Panama Canal to Greenland, has appeared focused on Bagram for years.&nbsp;Asked on Saturday whether he would send in the US troops to retake the base, Trump declined to give a direct answer, saying: &quot;We won&#39;t talk about that.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;We&#39;re talking now to Afghanistan and we want it back and we want it back soon, right away. And if they don&#39;t do it - if they don&#39;t do it, you&#39;re going to find out what I&#39;m gonna do,&quot; he told reporters at the White House.&nbsp;The sprawling airfield was the main base for American forces in Afghanistan during the two decades of war that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington by al Qaeda.&nbsp;The base once counted fast-food restaurants like Burger King and Pizza Hut catering to US troops as well as shops selling everything from electronics to Afghan rugs. It also hosted a massive prison complex.&nbsp;Experts say the sprawling air base would be difficult to secure initially and would require massive manpower to operate and protect.&nbsp;Even if the Taliban accepted the US re-occupation of Bagram following negotiations, it would need to be defended from a host of threats, including Islamic State and al Qaeda militants inside Afghanistan.&nbsp;It could also be vulnerable to an advanced missile threat from Iran, which attacked a major US air base in Qatar in June after the United States struck Iranian nuclear sites.

Afghanistan

Trump warns Afghanistan of “Bad Things” if Bagram Air Base not returned to US

Trump warns Afghanistan of consequences if Bagram Air Base not returned to US

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump said Thursday that his administration is working to regain control of Bagram Air Base from the Taliban, though details about the ongoing negotiations remain limited.&nbsp;Trump explained that part of his motivation to reacquire the former US military facility is its proximity to a site in China where &ldquo;nuclear weapons&rdquo; are reportedly produced. He criticized the previous administration&rsquo;s decision to abandon Bagram during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.&nbsp;&ldquo;We gave it to &lsquo;em for nothing. We&rsquo;re trying to get it back, by the way,&rdquo; Trump said during a news conference alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.&nbsp;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to get it back because they need things from us. We want that base back. One of the reasons is, as you know, it&rsquo;s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. So, a lot of things are happening, but I&rsquo;m very disappointed that that one&rsquo;s not settled,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;The negotiations with the Taliban had not been previously disclosed. The hardline group continues to control Bagram, which was the largest US military base in Afghanistan prior to the withdrawal.

US president revealed ongoing efforts to reclaim Bagram Air Base from the Taliban, citing strategic proximity to China’s nuclear facilities.

Articles tagged with "Bagram Air Base"

US deal on Bagram base 'not possible': Afghan Taliban

Trump warns Afghanistan of consequences if Bagram Air Base not returned to US

Trump vows to regain control of Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base