The Taliban dismissed Donald Trump's claim of Chinese presence at one of the former American military bases in Afghanistan.
The US president claimed Washington was planning to return to the Bagram Air Base, a large airfield in the Parwan province of the embattled nation due to the alleged presence of Chinese troops.
He suggested the US should move to reclaim disused and demilitarised military equipment that was not brought home with departing troops during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
“I’m the one who got our military presence to under 5,000 but we were going to keep Bagram,” Mr Trump said, “not because of Afghanistan but because of China, because the air base is exactly one hour from where China makes its nuclear missiles. So, we were going to keep Bagram.”
“Bagram airbase is one of the biggest airbases in the world. It has one of the biggest and most powerful runways. And we gave it up,” Mr Trump said, “and you know who is occupying it at the moment? China. Because Biden gave it up. So, we are going to keep that.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed Mr Trump’s remarks as “emotional”, and said US officials should "refrain" from making "statements based on unsubstantiated information".
Mr Mujahid told state media outlet RTA that the airfield was "controlled by the Islamic emirate”, referring to the Taliban government, and “not China”.
“Chinese troops are not present here nor do we have any such pact with any country,” he said. “We request that Trump's team explain to him and correct his information about Afghanistan.”
Mr Trump had claimed during his election campaign that the sprawling airfield was under the control of the People's Liberation Army, a claim he repeated after taking office.
China previously denied that its troops were stationed at Bagram.
The Bagram airfield, located about 44km north of the capital Kabul, served as the central command for the US-led Nato military campaign for two decades before the withdrawal four years ago. It was also the US epicentre of the war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the Al Qaeda leadership held responsible for 9/11.
Mr Trump has routinely criticised the previous administration of Joe Biden for "badly handling" the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and leaving behind heavy equipment.
“We left billions, tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment behind, brand new trucks. You see them display it every year...someplace where they have a road and they drive the, you know, waving the flag and talking about America,” he said. “That’s all top of the line stuff. I think we should get a lot of that equipment back.”
Mr Trump also accused the Taliban government of selling American gear which he claimed made Afghanistan “one of the biggest sellers of military equipment in the world”.
“Can you believe it? They're selling 777,000 rifles, 70,000 armour-plated trucks and vehicles,” he said. “This is 70,000 vehicles we had there, and we left it for them. I think we should get it back.”
The Taliban spokesperson argued that the weapons belonged to the previous Afghan government – which was backed by Nato and collapsed when the Western troops withdrew – and were considered “spoils of war”. The Taliban, he added, was using the weapons to protect the country.
The US provided $18.6bn worth of equipment to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces between 2005 and August 2021, according to a Pentagon report.
The $7bn worth of equipment that was left behind during the 2021 withdrawal included aircraft, air-to-ground bombs and missiles, vehicles, weapons, and communications gear.
