A Taliban official rejected Friday the possibility of recovering Bagram air base in Afghanistan, which US President Donald Trump has told reporters that he would like to take it back.

The base was handed over to the Afghan army shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Jacoven Jalal, a Taliban Foreign Ministry official, said the possibility of maintaining any US military presence in Afghanistan had been “completely” rejected during the talks between the two sides before the Taliban returned to power.

The current US president implied, however, that the recovery of the Bangram air base – which was the focus of NATO forces in Afghanistan for two decades – could be “because things are needed by us”.

Trump said at a press conference in the United Kingdom on Thursday that the US “gave it to them in return”.

The complete withdrawal of US troops was part of the agreement signed during the first Trump government in 2020 and ended under Joe Biden in 2021.

However, Trump said in March that he had planned to maintain the Bagram air base “not because of Afghanistan but because of China”.

Trump reiterated the importance of the location of the base on Thursday, saying that a reason to get back to Bagram is because “it is one hour away from the point where China builds its nuclear weapons.”

It is not clear what it was mentioned. BBC Verify in July pointed out that there is a nuclear test field of about 2,000 km (1,243 miles) away in northwestern China.

Trump has also repeatedly stated that China has since gained a presence at the base north of the capital, Kabul. Claim that the Taliban has denied.

However, a BBC survey – which examined 30 satellite images from the end of 2020 to 2025 – found very little activity on the basis since the Taliban returned and no evidence supporting China’s presence at the base.

On Friday, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that “China respects Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”, adding that “the future of Afghanistan must be in the hands of the Afghan people.”

Meanwhile, Jacoven Jalal wrote on the social networking platform X: “Throughout the history, Afghans have not accepted a military presence and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha’s talks and agreement, but the doors are open to others.”