KEY POINTS
- Taliban reject Trump’s call to hand over Bagram Air Base to US.
- Spokesman cites Doha Agreement, stresses Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
- Trump warns Afghanistan of “bad things” if it refuses to return Bagram Air Base.
- Taliban defence chief Fitrat rules out any deal over Afghan soil.
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Sunday dismissed US President Donald Trump’s calls to regain control of Bagram Air Base, insisting that no deal over the country’s territory was possible more than four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Trump’s remarks showed a lack of “realism and rationality” and stressed that Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity remained non-negotiable.
“It should be recalled that, under the Doha Agreement, the United States pledged that it will not use or threaten force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Afghanistan, nor interfere in its internal affairs,” Mujahid posted on X.
Statement of the Islamic Emirate Regarding the Recent Declarations by the President of the United States
September 21, 2025
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful https://t.co/0ZWKSu5ao2
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) September 21, 2025
Trump’s Vague Threat to Afghanistan
The comments came after Trump threatened Afghanistan with unspecified consequences if it refused to hand back the former US military hub.
“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” the US President wrote on his Truth Social platform late Saturday.
Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Taliban’s Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Defence, also rejected speculation of talks over the base.
“Some people have said that they have entered negotiations with Afghanistan for taking back Bagram Airbase,” he said in comments broadcast by local media. “A deal over even an inch of Afghanistan’s soil is not possible. We don’t need it.”
Statement of the Islamic Emirate Regarding the Recent Declarations by the President of the United States
September 21, 2025
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most MercifulIn accordance with Islamic principles and grounded in its balanced, economy-oriented…
— Hamdullah Fitratحمدالله فطرت (@FitratHamd) September 21, 2025
Strategic Value of Bagram Air Base
Trump, speaking days earlier during a state visit to Britain, hinted at attempts to retake Bagram Air Base, saying Washington was “trying to get it back” and linking the base’s strategic value to its proximity to China.
Asked later at the White House if he would consider deploying troops to seize it, Trump replied: “We won’t talk about that… and if they don’t do it, you’re going to find out what I’m going to do.”
It is unclear what conversations the US has had with Afghan officials about returning to the country. But Trump hinted that the Taliban, who have struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since their return to power in 2021, could be open to allowing the US military back.
Bagram, Afghanistan’s largest military installation, served as a linchpin of the US-led war effort against the Taliban following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It was also the site of alleged human rights abuses, with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documenting cases of mistreatment of detainees during Washington’s “war on terror.”
US and NATO forces abandoned the base in July 2021 as part of a Trump-brokered peace deal with the Taliban. The pullout accelerated the collapse of the Afghan military and paved the way for the Taliban’s return to power weeks later.
Bagram Under the Taliban Rule
Trump has repeatedly criticised the loss of Bagram since his return to office, attacking his predecessor Joe Biden’s handling of the 2021 withdrawal and warning against growing Chinese influence in Afghanistan.
BBC Monitoring reported that since the US pullout from Afghanistan, the Taliban have used the airfield for training exercises and symbolic parades rather than sustained flight operations.
In August last year, the Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of their takeover at Bagram with a grand military display of abandoned US hardware, catching the eye of the White House.
Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for his “gross incompetence” during the withdrawal of US forces after the country’s longest war.
