Beijing Leads Effort to Block U.S. from Reclaiming Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan
THE Morning post in southern China (SCMP) reported On Friday, China is carrying out efforts to prevent the United States from regaining control of the Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
THE SCCP reported that Yue Xiaoyong, a special envoy to Afghanistan from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with delegates from Russia, Pakistan and Iran on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
After the meeting, the four nations published a joint declaration urging “respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan”.
The declaration opposed the military bases controlled by any person that the four signatories accused the “current situation”, which mainly means the United States. China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran did not seem inclined to limit themselves of the establishment of a military presence in Afghanistan, if they wanted it.
Bagram aerodrome was built by the Soviet Union in the 1950s. It became a key element of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The United States took control of the long-term installation in 2001, after having reversed the first Taliban government.
American forces has renovated and extended the base, providing it with enough track space to manage major freight planes, a prison complex and various equipment, including fast food restaurants.
President Donald Trump strongly criticized his predecessor Joe Biden abandonment Bagram during the disastrous removal of Biden from Afghanistan in July 2021. Higher military leaders said The congress, they strongly advised Biden to maintain control of Bagram and to evacuations from there, rather than from Hamid Karzai International Airport more vulnerable to Kabul. Terrorists bombed Kabul airport during the Biden withdrawal chaos, killing more than 100 people, including 13 American soldiers.
During his trip to the United Kingdom last week, Trump said He wanted the United States to regain control of Bagram, and he did not hesitate to explain why.
“One of the biggest air bases in the world, we have given them for nothing. We are trying to recover it, moreover, okay? It could be a little news. We are trying to recover it because they need things. We want this base to be returned,” Trump told journalists. By “they”, he meant the Taliban junta who took control of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Biden.
“But one of the reasons why we want the base to be, as you know, is an hour from the place where China makes its nuclear weapons. So many things happen,” he said.
“If Afghanistan does not make Bagram air base to those who built it, the United States of America, bad things will happen !!!” Trump warned in a job on social truth.
Bagram is around 43 miles from Kabul and around 500 miles from the Afghan border with the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang (Xuar) in China. Among the installations located in the Xuar is China secret Installation of nuclear weapons test in Lop Nur.
Trump later said Journalists on the Air Force One that Bagram was “one of the most powerful bases in the world in terms of strength and track length”.
“You can land anything there,” he said.
Trump made his comments a few days after the White House envoy Adam Boehler had a meeting with Taliban officials. The Taliban praised the meeting as a sign that Washington “opened in Kabul”.
The head of the Taliban Foreign Ministry of Affairs, Zakir Jalaly, rejected The idea of restoring Bagram in the United States.
“The Afghans did not accept a military presence in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the talks and the Doha agreement, but the door is open to an additional interaction,” he said.
“Recently, some voices claim that we are in talks with the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan to negotiate the return of Bagram aerodrome, or that we are looking for a political settlement after having failed to take it by force. We ensure the people of Afghanistan that no agreement on even a thumb of our soil is possible”, ” said Fasihuddin Fitrat, chief of staff of the Taliban Ministry of Defense.
The reclusive supreme chief of the Taliban, Hibatullah Akhundzada, would have has planned a cabinet meeting in Kandahar to discuss the future of Bagram air base.
It would seem unnecessary if the response to Trump’s request is a firm and inflexible refusal, but the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, insisted that no discussion was in progress to conclude an agreement for access to the base.
“The Afghans will never give up part of their country to another government. If the Trump administration makes a bad decision, it will face a bad reaction from us,” said Mujahid.
