The Taliban immediately spurned US efforts to return to Bagram Air Base after President Donald Trump said, “We want that base back” on September 18, 2021. Bagram Air Base was the key hub for operations that targeted the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and the Islamic State and housed thousands of terrorists in its prison before the US abandoned the facility in July 2021, before its final withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
“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, a Taliban foreign ministry official, said, according to Al Jazeera.
“Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi has adamantly stated on multiple occasions that not even a fraction of Bagram’s land will be relinquished,” Hurriyat Radio, a Taliban media outlet, stated on September 19 in response to Trump’s comments on Bagram. Hurriyat News also said that the “Fantasy of Americans returning to Bagram Air Base is ridiculous” in a post on X.
It is highly unlikely that the Taliban would permit the return of US forces to Afghanistan. The Taliban has been steadfast that it will not permit a US or foreign presence on its soil, and has stated numerous times that its reasons for waging jihad were to establish the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and eject all foreign troops.
Trump called for a US return to Bagram during a press conference on September 18. “We’re trying to get it [Bagram Air Base] back because they need things from us,” Trump stated, according to Fox News. “We want that base back, 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.”
Bagram was once the prime logistics and operations center and largest base for US, NATO, and allied forces during their time in Afghanistan following Al Qaeda’s attack on the US in 2001, up until the US withdrawal from the facility on July 2, 2021. US forces departed Bagram during the night without informing their Afghan allies. The Afghan military took control of the base, but the Taliban seized it on August 15, 2021, the same day the Taliban entered Kabul and the Afghan government collapsed.
After taking control of Bagram, the Taliban immediately freed thousands of Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Islamic State prisoners that were held at the facility. One of the prisoners, Abdul Rahman al Logari, a member of the Islamic State, carried out the Abbey Gate suicide attack on August 26, 2021, that killed 182 people. The death toll in that incident included 169 Afghan civilians who were attempting to leave the country via Hamid Karzai International Airport and 13 American military personnel who were securing the airport.
