Imprecise menace comes after a Taliban official rejected Trump’s name to return the sprawling airbase beforehand utilized by US forces.
Printed On 21 Sep 2025
United States President Donald Trump has threatened Afghanistan with unspecified penalties until it provides again management of the Bagram airbase to Washington.
The imprecise menace on Saturday got here a day after the Taliban-controlled authorities rejected Trump’s name to return the sprawling airbase, positioned some 64km (40 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul.
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“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase again to those who constructed it, america of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” Trump wrote on his Reality Social platform.
Bagram, a sprawling advanced, was the primary base for US forces in Afghanistan through the 20 years of conflict that adopted the September 11, 2001, assaults in New York and Washington by al-Qaeda.
1000’s of individuals had been imprisoned on the web site for years with out cost or trial by US forces throughout its so-called “conflict on terror”, and plenty of of them had been abused or tortured.
The Taliban retook the ability in 2021 following the US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan authorities.
Trump has typically lamented the lack of entry to Bagram, noting its proximity to China, however his feedback on Thursday, throughout a go to to the UK, had been the primary time he had made public that he was engaged on the matter.
“We’re making an attempt to get it again, by the way in which, that may very well be a bit breaking information. We’re making an attempt to get it again as a result of they want issues from us,” Trump mentioned at a information convention with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Afghan officers, nonetheless, have expressed opposition to a revived US presence.
“Afghanistan and america want to have interaction with each other … with out america sustaining any army presence in any a part of Afghanistan,” Zakir Jalal, a Ministry of Overseas Affairs official, mentioned on X on Friday.
“Kabul is able to pursue political and financial ties with Washington based mostly on ‘mutual respect and shared pursuits’,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly criticised the lack of the bottom since returning to energy, linking it to his assaults on his predecessor Joe Biden’s dealing with of the US pullout from Afghanistan.
Trump has additionally complained about China’s rising affect in Afghanistan.
Requested on Saturday whether or not he would ship in troops to retake the bottom, Trump declined to offer a direct reply, saying: “We gained’t discuss that.”
“We’re speaking now to Afghanistan, and we wish it again and we wish it again quickly, instantly. And in the event that they don’t do it – in the event that they don’t do it, you’re going to seek out out what I’m gonna do,” he instructed reporters on the White Home.
