Dubai, United Arab Emirates – A Taliban government official confirmed on Sunday that reaching an agreement on Bagram Air Base is “impossible”.
This came after US President Donald Trump threatened the country with unspecified sanctions. These sanctions were a response to the base not being returned to the United States.
“Recently, some have said they have entered into negotiations with Afghanistan to retake Bagram Air Base,” Afghan army chief Fasihuddin Fatrat said.
He stressed: “Agreement on even an inch of Afghan territory is impossible. We don’t need it.”
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “If Afghanistan does not return Bagram Air Base to the one who built it, the United States, bad things will happen”.
This vague threat comes a few days after he raised the idea of the United States regaining control of the base. He mentioned it during an official visit to Britain.
Bagram, Afghanistan’s largest air base, was a key pillar of Washington’s war against the Taliban. This was following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Trump has long lamented the loss of Bagram because of its strategic location close to China. Thursday was the first time he announced that he was working on this issue.
Why does Trump want the Bagram base?
In a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on September 18, Trump indicated negotiations with the Taliban had begun. These were regarding the return of American forces to the air base outside Kabul.
“We want to get Bagram back because they (the Taliban) need things from us,” Trump said. It is only an hour away from China’s nuclear weapons manufacturing sites.
Bagram base is located 40 kilometers north of Kabul.
It was built in the 1950s by the Soviet Union. Later, it became the largest American base in Afghanistan during the 20-year American presence.
China is at the heart of American calculations
Trump has once again focused on the Chinese dimension in his justifications for restoring Bagram.
He considered that the base’s location makes it of strategic importance due to its proximity to Chinese nuclear zones. However, the distance between Bagram and the “Lub Nur” nuclear site in the Chinese province of Xinjiang exceeds 2,000 kilometers.
Lop Nor is a historic site for Chinese nuclear tests, but it is not a known site for manufacturing nuclear weapons.
The main production facilities are believed to be located in central China.
