The United States is seeking to regain control of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump said Thursday during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, though Afghan officials dismissed the need for a renewed U.S. presence.
The historic Soviet-era airstrip served as the main hub for American forces in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks until their 2021 withdrawal, which allowed the Taliban to seize control.
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said of Bagram, highlighting its strategic location near China. “We want that base back.”
Kabul, however, said it was not open to any such arrangement.
“Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another ... without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Zakir Jalal, an Afghan Foreign Ministry official, posted on X.
The two nations could establish economic and political ties on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests, he added.
China respects Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, a spokesperson for its Foreign Ministry said, urging all parties to play a constructive role for regional peace and stability.
“The future and destiny of Afghanistan should be held in the hands of the Afghan people,” Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing on Friday, when asked about Trump’s comments. “I want to stress that stoking tensions and creating confrontation in the region wins no popular support.”
Engaging with Kabul to secure the release of citizens wrongly detained abroad, U.S. officials held talks Saturday with Afghan authorities regarding Americans held in Afghanistan.
Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special hostage envoy, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, met with the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Washington does not recognize the Taliban administration, which seized power in 2021 after 20 years of U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan.
