US President Donald Trump threatened Afghanistan with unspecified “dangerous issues” if it doesn’t flip the large Bagram Air Base outdoors Kabul again to United States, an motion beforehand rejected by the nation’s Taliban rulers.
“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase again to people who constructed it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN,” Trump mentioned on September 20 in a Truth Social submit.
Asked by reporters on the White House whether or not he would take into account sending troops to recapture the ability, Trump mentioned solely that “we can’t discuss that.”
“We’re speaking now to Afghanistan, and we wish it again and we wish it again quickly, immediately. And if they do not do it — if they do not do it, you are going to discover out what I’m gonna do,” he advised reporters.
The remarks come after Trump on September 18 mentioned the United States was trying to get Bagram Air Base again from Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, citing the extremist group’s want for US assist and the ability’s proximity to China’s nuclear property.
“We’re attempting to get it again as a result of they [Taliban rulers] want issues from us,” Trump mentioned with out being particular throughout a joint information convention with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London.
“But one of many causes we wish that base is, as you understand, it’s an hour away from the place China makes its nuclear weapons. So a number of issues are taking place,” Trump added.
The Taliban rulers, beset by pure disasters, unrest, poverty, and terrorist assaults, have tried to enhance ties with the worldwide group, though Russia is the one nation to to date set up diplomatic relations.
Western nations have mentioned the nation should first enhance its human rights document, particularly in regard to the remedy of ladies and women.
The Wall Street Journal, citing individuals with data of the matter, on September 19 reported that US administration officers have been in discussions with the Taliban regarding the matter. The report mentioned US officers and the Taliban mentioned permitting the US navy to make use of Bagram as a “launch level” for counterterrorism missions.
Experts have mentioned that even when Taliban leaders did enable a US presence at Bagram, the bottom would must be defended in opposition to threats from the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) terror teams nonetheless working in Afghanistan.
Bagram, about 40 kilometers north of Kabul, was truly constructed by the Soviet Union within the Nineteen Fifties however vastly improved and expanded by the US navy. It was the most important US base in Afghanistan and served because the central command throughout its 20-year occupation of the nation.
The base was handed over in July 2021 to the earlier Afghan authorities — weeks earlier than the chaotic withdrawal of US troops and the eventual takeover of the nation by the Taliban.
Washington has saved a minimal degree of public engagement with Afghanistan for the reason that Taliban takeover, limiting it to hostage negotiations. Afghanistan has remained largely remoted on the worldwide stage and its economic system is struggling to draw overseas assist and personal investments.
Taliban officers rejected Trump’s suggestion that the United States would possibly regain management of Bagram, however they left open the opportunity of talks to enhance ties.
“Without the US having any navy presence in Afghanistan, each Afghanistan and the US want to have interaction with one another, they usually can have political and financial relations based mostly on mutual respect and shared pursuits,” Zakir Jalaly, a Taliban overseas ministry official, mentioned on social media.
Trump up to now has made feedback about both seizing, shopping for, or in any other case buying worldwide property, such because the Panama Canal and Greenland and of constructing Canada the “51st US state.” The remarks have angered the governments in query.
