According to a report by the Toro news website of Afghanistan on March 2, in an interview with the media, Mujahid, spokesman for the interim Afghan government, dismissed comments by US president Donald Trump about“Chinese Bagram Airfield” as“Emotional”.
“Donald Trump claims that the Bagram base is in Chinese hands, but the reality is that it is under the control of the Afghan interim government forces,” Mujahid said. “There is not even a single Chinese fighter here, and we have not reached similar agreements with any country,” Mujahid added, “The United States is a major power in the world, its leaders should pay attention to complete and accurate speech.”.
Mujahid’s comments were seen as a response to a US media report on the subject on February 26. Reported that U.S. President Donald Trump held the day before the first cabinet meeting in his second term criticized the previous administration for the withdrawal of Afghan troops“Mishandled.”. He said the US should“Keep the Bagram Base” when it withdrew, claiming it had been abandoned by the Biden administration and occupied by the Chinese. Hergeses, the United States Secretary of Defense, also said the Pentagon was“Reviewing every aspect of the failed Afghan withdrawal” to ensure full accountability. According to reports by the Afghan Karma News Agency and other media, during the election campaign last July and August, Donald Trump claimed on various occasions that the Chinese“Took over” the Bagram Airfield, and threatened to“Retake” the base.
Rumours of a Chinese“Takeover” of the Bagram Airfield may have originated in Indian media reports in early September 2021. At the time, the Indian newspaper the herald reported, citing so-called“Sources”, that, “The Taliban plan to hand over Bagram Airfield to the Chinese and the Kandahar Air Base to the Pakistanis.”. Before the Indian media gave the news a lot of attention, former American Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley only expressed her“Suspicions” in an interview with Fox News Channel. She said she was“Confident” the Chinese would soon move to try to take over the Bagram Airfield. Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesman at the time, responded to the rumours at his ministry’s regular press conference, calling them“Pure false news”.
The Bagram Airfield, more than 40 km north of Kabul, was originally built by the Soviet Army on the basis of a Bagram Airfield during the 1980s invasion. It is the largest U. S. military base in Afghanistan during the war, with a maximum of more than 10,000 troops.
In 2021, when the military fully withdrew from Afghanistan, the base was abruptly evacuated in the early hours of July 2. The former Afghan government forces arrived and took over the base two hours after the military withdrew. On Aug. 15, Mujahid announced that the Afghan Taliban had captured the base. On 21 September 2022, the Ministry of Defence of the Interim Government of Afghanistan announced that the opening and restoration of the base had begun on the same day.