'Not possible': Afghan Taliban rejects US deal on Bagram air base

The Afghan Taliban government on Sunday rejected the US bid to retake Bagram airbase, saying it was “not possible” as US President Donald Trump warned the country with unspecified punishment.

Trump threatened the country Saturday with unspecified punishment, just days after he raised the idea of the US retaking control of the base while on a state visit to the United Kingdom.

"If Afghanistan doesn't give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" the 79-year-old leader wrote on his Truth Social platform.

On Sunday, Fasihuddin Fitrat, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defence, said "some people" want to take back the base through a "political deal".

"Recently, some people have said that they have entered negotiations with Afghanistan for taking back Bagram Air base," he said in comments broadcast by local media.

"A deal over even an inch of Afghanistan's soil is not possible. We don't need it".

Bagram, the largest air base in Afghanistan, was a linchpin of the US-led war effort against the Taliban, whose government Washington toppled following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) troops chaotically pulled out of Bagram in July 2021 as part of a Trump-brokered deal with Taliban insurgents.

The loss of crucial air power saw the Afghan military collapse just weeks later and the Taliban sweep back to power.