Taliban defy US, say they will not return Bagram air base in Afghanistan

Any deal to return the former U.S. base at Bagram is "impossible," the Afghan government said Sunday, after President Donald Trump threatened sanctions if Afghanistan rejects the proposal.

Bagram, Afghanistan's largest air base north of Kabul, was the center of U.S. operationsin its war against the Taliban for 20 years.

Trump threatened Saturday to punish the country, without specifying how, if it did not return the base to the United States, four years after troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

"If Afghanistan does not return Bagram Air Base to those who built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" the Republican leader wrote on Truth Social.

But on Sunday, Defense Ministry chief of staff, Fasihudin Fitrat said it is impossible to reach such an agreement with the United States.

"Recently some people claim to have initiated negotiations with Afghanistan to take back Bagram air base," Fitrat said, in comments carried by local media. "An agreement, even if it is about one inch of Afghanistan's soil, is impossible. We don't need it," he stressed.

In a statement, picked up by AFP, the Afghan government said "Afghanistan's independence and territorial integrity are of paramount importance."

Troops to retake Bagram

On Saturday, following his statements on social media, Trump was asked by a group of journalists at the White House whether he was considering sending U.S. troops to retake Bagram.

Trump replied, "We won't talk about that, but now we're talking to Afghanistan, and we want it back and we want it back soon, immediately. And if they don't, you're going to find out what I'm going to do."