Donald Trump has pushed to regain Bagram, citing proximity to China’s nuclear facilities.The Taliban has rejected United States President Donald Trump’s demand that it hand over the Bagram airbase that Washington ran during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, dismissing Trump’s threat that “bad things” will happen if this does not come to pass.The Taliban said on Sunday that “Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity are of the utmost importance” and called on the US to uphold prior agreements that it would not resort to force.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“Accordingly, it is once again underscored that, rather than repeating past failed approaches, a policy of realism and rationality should be adopted,” Afghanistan’s rulers said.Bagram, which was the US’s largest military site in Afghanistan, is a large airbase located 50km (31 miles) north of Kabul that served as one of the US’s key military hubs during its two-decade war against the Taliban. The war, which followed the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington by al-Qaeda, ended in 2021 with Washington’s abrupt and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.Thousands of people were imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by US forces during its so-called “war on terror”, and many of them were abused or tortured.The Taliban retook the facility in 2021 following the US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan government.Over the last week, Trump has expressed a keen interest in reacquiring the airbase.“We’re talking now to Afghanistan and we want it back and we want it back soon, right away. And if they don’t do it, if they don’t do …
