Taliban to Trump: There is no room for foreign troops in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is no longer an occupied country and there is no room for US, or any other foreign troops inside Afghanistan, said a Taliban official in a reaction to Donald Trump’s statement who said that he would have kept Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

Trump, former US President and the candidate of 2024 presidential elections, had recently said that he would have kept Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan if he had remained the president.

Speaking at his first election campaign rally, Trump said that Bagram Airfield is one of the biggest airfields in the world, on which billions of dollars have been invested and claimed that the Chinese are now controlling this airfield.

“I was getting out. After 21 years you get the hell out, but I would have kept Bagram. It’s one hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. We gave it to them so stupidly,” Trump said.

Commenting on the deadly blast during the evacuation process in Kabul Airport in which 13 US troops and dozens of Afghan civilians were killed, Trump said that the US forces should have been withdrawn from Bagram Airfield, not Kabul airport where “riots” were taking place.

“If I was President, the Afghan disaster would have never happened. Ukraine would have never happened and the October 7th attack on Israel would have never happened,” he said.

No Chinese troops in Afghanistan and the Bagram Airfield is under control of Taliban

There are no Chinese troops in Afghanistan and the Bagram Airfield is under the control of the Afghan government, said a Taliban official.

“We don’t accept the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. We fought against occupation and now it is very irrational that we should give any base for foreign troops including Chinese. Trump is using Chinese cards to get votes from the people,” the official told Harici on condition of anonymity.

A view of Bagram Airfield during the presence of US force in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujhaid rejected Trump’s statements about selling US military equipment in Afghanistan.

“Any equipment that was and is in Afghanistan is all stored and stationed and is the property of Afghanistan. Additionally, it is protected and safeguarded for the preservation of our homeland, our values, and the defense of our compatriots and our soil. Not a single weapon will be wasted, sold, or transferred,” Mujahid told a local news agency.

Trump had recently said that after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the country has become the largest seller of leftover American weaponry in the world.

“You know that right now, Afghanistan is one of the largest sellers of weapons in the world. They are selling the brand new beautiful weapons that we gave them,” Trump said in one of his rallies.

Taliban says they don’t tolerate the presence of foreign troops who committed war crimes in Afghanistan

A Taliban official at the ministry of interior said that Taliban leadership will not tolerate the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. “In the past 20 years, I mean during the occupation, the foreign troops have committed dozens of war crimes and killed tens of thousands of people in a brutal and unlawful way. Even children were not spared,” the official said, who wished anonymity.

He said that there are several cases of war crimes committed by US, UK, and Australian forces and there is no justice in those recorded cases.

The Australian government had accepted that its troops had committed war crimes during their military mission in Afghanistan and promised to compensate the families of innocent Afghans.

A spokesperson for the defense minister of Australia said that the “establishment of the Afghanistan Inquiry compensation scheme represents a significant step forward in closing out these recommendations.”

The compensation by the Australian government came after the Taliban called on countries that committed war crimes in Afghanistan to compensate the victims’ families.

Australian judge Paul Bretreton was the first who in 2020 proposed compensation for victims’ families and he exposed war crimes committed by Australian forces between 2005 and 2016 that resulted in the deaths of 39 Afghans.