Afghanistan rejects US return to Bagram airbase | Conflict News

President Trump reiterated name to reclaim the massive airbase, however Taliban says US should have interaction with out looking for army presence.

Afghanistan has rejected a name from President Donald Trump for the US army to return to the nation and reclaim the Bagram airbase.

A overseas ministry official declared on social media on Friday that Kabul is able to have interaction, however maintained that the US won’t be allowed to re-establish a army presence within the central Asian nation.

Trump stated on Thursday that his administration is urgent to “get again” the bottom at Bagram. The US president, who has lengthy expressed hope of reclaiming the ability, famous that its place is strategically important as a consequence of its proximity to China.

“We’re making an attempt to get it again,” Trump introduced. “We gave it to [the Taliban] for nothing,” he complained, including that Bagram is “precisely one hour away from the place China makes its nuclear missiles”.

Nonetheless, Taliban officers have dismissed the thought.

“Afghanistan and the US want to interact with each other … with out the US sustaining any army presence in any a part of Afghanistan,” Zakir Jalal, a overseas ministry official, posted on social media.

Kabul is able to pursue political and financial ties with Washington based mostly on “mutual respect and shared pursuits,” he added.

Mendacity simply north of Kabul, Bagram, which hosted a notorious jail, served because the centre of the US army’s operations throughout its two-decade occupation of Afghanistan.

1000’s of individuals had been additionally imprisoned on the website for years with out cost or trial by the US throughout its so-called “conflict on terror”, and lots of of these had been abused or tortured.

The Taliban retook the ability in 2021 following the US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan authorities.

Trump has repeatedly expressed remorse that the bottom was deserted, arguing that Washington ought to have maintained a small drive, not due to Afghanistan however due to its location close to China.

The most recent remarks got here as Trump confirmed for the primary time that his administration has been in talks with Taliban officers.

Over the weekend, Adam Boehler, his particular hostage envoy, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US envoy for Afghanistan, met Overseas Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul. Discussions reportedly centred on Americans detained in Afghanistan.

US officers have been weighing the potential of re-establishing a presence at Bagram since no less than March, in response to reviews cited by the US media outlet CNN.

Trump and his advisers argue that the airfield may present leverage, not solely over safety, but additionally permit entry to Afghanistan’s useful mineral assets.

The US doesn’t formally recognise the Taliban authorities, which returned to energy in 2021 after 20 years of battle with American-led forces.