The Taliban government on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, rejected the idea of handing control of Bagram air base back to the United States, a day after President Donald Trump warned that “bad things” would happen if Afghanistan does not return the facility.
Trump floated the prospect last week during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the United Kingdom, calling the effort to regain Bagram “a little breaking news” and adding, “We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us.”
He escalated the message on Saturday on Truth Social: “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!”
Kabul’s response came quickly. Fasihuddin Fitrat, chief of staff at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, dismissed talk of any deal to return the installation. “Recently, some people have said that they have entered negotiations with Afghanistan for taking back Bagram Air Base,” he told local media on Sunday. “A deal over even an inch of Afghanistan’s soil is not possible. We don’t need it.”
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bagram, the largest air base in the country, was the base for U.S. and NATO operations for twenty years. As part of the departure agreement, U.S. and NATO forces left the base in July 2021. Later, the Taliban took possession of the base when they came back to power.
For a long time, Trump has been critical of how the withdrawal went down. If the US tried to take back Bagram now, it would be a big change in how the US and Afghanistan’s leaders get along. It would also test Washington’s bigger goals during a time of increased competition between great powers. The Taliban says that the base is a symbol of their sovereignty that they won’t give up.
For yet, the standoff is all talk. The US hasn’t officially said it will take back the site, and Taliban officials are saying that while economic and political ties may be conceivable, a foreign military presence is not.
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