Taliban Strongly Condemn Trump’s Remarks on Afghanistan’s Bagram Base
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Afghanistan’s Awa News Agency via Mehr News Agency, Zaker Jalali, the third political head of the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that the United States can engage with Afghanistan without a military presence.
He expressed this viewpoint on his social media account on X (formerly Twitter), emphasizing that a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is unacceptable.
Jalali asserted: “Afghanistan and America can maintain economic and political relations based on mutual respect and shared interests without any U.S. military presence anywhere in Afghanistan; historically, Afghan people have never accepted foreign military occupation.”
The third political head of the Taliban Foreign Ministry also stressed that during talks in Doha,any possibility of a U.S. military presence was explicitly rejected.
Former President Donald Trump made remarks last Thursday at a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister keir Starmer at the end of his visit to Britain. he said: ”Bagram is one of the largest airbases in the world. We gave it away for free. By the way,we are trying to get it back.”
Trump continued: ”We want to take back this base as the Taliban need our help.We want that base. As you know, one reason we want it is because it’s only an hour away from where China manufactures its nuclear weapons.”
He criticized former President Joe Biden over Washington’s controversial 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, claiming it handed over American weapons and other military assets-including bases-to the Taliban.
In February during his first cabinet meeting after reelection, Trump said: “In our previous withdrawal plan from afghanistan, we intended to keep Bagram-not for Afghanistan’s sake but because it’s just an hour from where China builds its nuclear missiles.”
He added that Bagram hosts one of the world’s largest airbases with one of its biggest concrete-and-heavy-steel runways measuring 11,800 feet (3,600 meters), capable of accommodating bombers and large cargo planes.
