President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened Afghanistan, which is governed by the Taliban, if Bagram Air Base isn’t returned to the United States.
“If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.
The president didn’t elaborate on what consequences the country might face.
On Thursday, the president said the administration is “trying” to get the former U.S. Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan “back” from the Taliban.
In remarks to the press while standing alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the president criticized the handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden and said he had “a little breaking news.”
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said. “We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us.”
Trump did not expand on whom he was referring to or, if referring to the Taliban, the terrorist organization that took over the country in 2021, what they “need” from the U.S.
“We want that base back, but one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump added.
On Saturday evening, Trump told reporters the administration wants Bagram back “right away,” and “if they don’t do it, you’re going to find out what I’m going to do.”
The Taliban took over the country after the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021.
The U.S. claimed Bagram Air Base, which was built by the Soviets in the 1950s, in 2001 when the military went into Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks.
In 2021, when the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, it secretly left the base in the middle of the night on July 1, leaving it to the Afghan government.
The Taliban captured the base six weeks later in August of 2021, on the same day Kabul fell.
Earlier this year, White House hostage envoy Adam Boehler met with Taliban officials in Kabul while working to get hostage George Glezmann released, the first direct meeting since the pullout in 2021.
Boehler, along with another U.S. envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, met with the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and reportedly discussed ways to “develop bilateral relations between the two countries, issues related to citizens, and investment opportunities in Afghanistan,” according to a Taliban statement.
The removal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan began during the first Trump administration in March 2020, and open-source intelligence showed that the Taliban had been making gains across Afghanistan in the year leading up to the August 2021 withdrawal.
Under the deal forged by the first Trump administration, the U.S. agreed to withdraw all U.S. forces by May 1, 2021, but Biden extended the withdrawal date to August 2021.
