Taliban rejects Trump’s plan to retake Afghan airbase

BBC :

A Taliban official has rejected the idea that the US could retake a key airbase in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump told reporters he wanted it back.

Zakir Jalal, who works in the Taliban’s foreign ministry, said the idea of the US maintaining any military presence in Afghanistan was “completely” rejected during talks between the two sides before the Taliban returned to power.

It came after the US president hinted retaking Bagram airbase – the epicentre of Nato forces in Afghanistan for two decades – might be possible “because they need things from us”.

The base was handed to the Afghan military shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Trump said at a press conference in the UK on Thursday the US “gave it to them for nothing”.

The complete withdrawal of US troops was part of a deal signed during Trump’s first administration in 2020, and finished under Joe Biden’s in 2021.

But Trump said in March he had planned to keep Bagram airbase “not because of Afghanistan but because of China”.

Trump reiterated the importance of its location on Thursday, saying one reason to take Bagram back was because “it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons”.