A senior Taliban official has dismissed former US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the United States could reclaim Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, describing any possibility of a renewed American military presence as unacceptable.
Zakir Jalal, a representative of the Taliban’s foreign ministry, said on Friday that the idea was “completely rejected” during negotiations in Doha prior to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. His comments followed Trump’s remarks at a press conference in the UK, where he said the US might seek to retake the base “because they need things from us.”
Bagram airbase, once the hub of NATO forces during two decades of war in Afghanistan, was handed over to Afghan forces shortly before the Taliban takeover. The US withdrawal was completed under President Joe Biden, in line with the deal signed between Washington and the Taliban during Trump’s first term.
Trump has previously argued that the US should have retained control of the base—not for operations in Afghanistan, but because of its strategic location near China. On Thursday, he reiterated that Bagram’s proximity to “where China makes its nuclear weapons” was a reason to take it back. However, a BBC Verify investigation in July found the nearest nuclear testing site in north-western China is about 2,000 kilometers away, far beyond Trump’s claim of “an hour away.”
Trump has also alleged that China has since established a presence at Bagram, but satellite imagery examined by the BBC between 2020 and 2025 showed little activity at the base and no evidence of Chinese involvement. The Taliban have consistently denied the allegation, while Beijing said it respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty and that its future “should be in the hands of Afghan people.”
In a statement on X, Jalal wrote: “Throughout history, Afghans have not accepted a military presence, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the doors are open to other engagement.”
Recent US-Taliban talks have focused largely on the release of American citizens still held in Afghanistan, Reuters reported.
