Trump hopes to “restore” the Bharam Al -Haram base, which was rejected by the Taliban official

The Taliban official rejected the idea that the United States could restore a major air base in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump told the reporters that he wanted to return.

Zakir Jalal, who works for the Taliban Foreign Ministry, said the idea of ​​maintaining any military presence in Afghanistan was “rejected” during talks between the two sides before the Taliban returned to power.

This came after the American president alluded to return the Bagram Airbase base – the NATO Center in Afghanistan two decades ago – “because they need things from us.”

Al -Qaeda was handed over to the Afghan army shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

“I gave them them for nothing,” Trump told a press conference in the United Kingdom on Thursday.

The full withdrawal of the American forces was part of a deal signed during the first Trump administration in 2020, and ended under the leadership of Joe Biden in 2021.

But Trump said in March that he intends to keep the Bagram air base “not because of Afghanistan, but because of China.”

Trump repeated the importance of his position on Thursday, saying that one of the reasons for restoring Bagram is “it is an hour away from the place where China is making its nuclear weapons.”

It is not clear exactly what is indicated: BBC indicated the investigation in July that there is a nuclear test site about 2000 km (1243 miles), in northwest China.

Trump has also repeatedly said that China has since created a presence at the base, which is located north of the capital, Kabul. The Taliban denied this claim.

But an investigation of the British Broadcasting Authority – which examined 30 satellites from late 2020 to 2025 – did not find a very little activity in the base since the Taliban returned, and there was no evidence to support China’s presence in the base.

“China respects regional integrity in Afghanistan and sovereignty,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, adding that “the future of Afghanistan should be in the hands of the Afghan people.”

Meanwhile, Zakir Jalal from the Taliban wrote on the social media platform X: “Throughout history, Afghans have not accepted a military existence, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha and agreement talks, but the doors are open to other participation.”

The United States and Taliban participated in recent talks, although a meeting on Saturday with the Taliban Foreign Minister focused on Americans who held in Afghanistan, Reuters news agency reported.