Trump warns of ‘bad things’ if Afghanistan keeps Bagram airfield

US President Trump demanded on 21 September that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan “give back” control of the Bagram air base to the US military, which withdrew from the base in 2021 following a 20-year occupation of the country.

“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

He told reporters on Friday that he was in talks with Afghan officials to reclaim the base, strategically located near Chinese nuclear facilities.

“We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us. We want that base back,” Trump stated during the joint press conference in the UK. “But one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.”

Also known as Bagram Airfield, the base was built in the 1950s with assistance from the Soviet Union amid Moscow’s efforts to strengthen Afghanistan’s military infrastructure during the Cold War.

US forces occupied Bagram in 2001 after invading Afghanistan, allegedly in response to the 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York.

US forces quickly toppled the ruling Taliban government and reestablished the heroin trade, but chaotically withdrew from the country in 2021 following a two-decade-long insurgency.

A 2022 Department of Defense report stated that the US military left behind 78 aircraft, 40,000 military vehicles, and more than 300,000 weapons.

Afghan officials have rejected Trump’s demand the US retake control of Bagram.

“Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another … without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” stated Zakir Jalal, an Afghan foreign ministry official.

Washington declared plans to reassert its Afghan influence in February. This effort intensified after the US president announced plans to retake Bagram Airbase a short time later.

Trump said his plans to establish a “small force” at Bagram were not aimed at Afghanistan, but rather, at curbing China’s operational control of the base – a charge the Taliban has vehemently denied. 

The group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told local media in March that Trump’s allegations about China controlling the airbase were “an emotional statement based on unsubstantiated information.”

“Bagram is controlled by the Islamic Emirate [Taliban regime], not China. Chinese troops are not present here, nor do we have any such pact with any country,” Mujahid added.