Captured US weapons Gaza, Greenland – now Afghanistan
Trump wants to return US military equipment that fell to the Taliban during the withdrawal - and an Afghan military base. Pakistan promises cooperation.
No, Donald Trump does not want to buy Afghanistan and turn it into a tourist paradise. It is only a small piece of the country, the Bagram military base . If you believe his words, the US president is not even interested in Afghanistan itself. He wants Bagram "not because of Afghanistan, but because of China" because it is exactly one hour's flight time "from the place where China is building its nuclear missiles."
Trump raised the subject of Bagram several times during the election campaign. He was concerned that Bagram was now "under Chinese influence." The Taliban denied this. What is true is that Beijing is still diplomatically active in Afghanistan after the ignominious US withdrawal in 2021 and is promoting Chinese investments there. The US, on the other hand, is out. On Wednesday, Trump raised the subject of Bagram again at the first meeting of the new cabinet in Washington.
The president has a second score to settle with the Taliban. He wants the return of military equipment and weapons worth seven billion US dollars that the Pentagon says the US supplied to Afghanistan's armed forces. These include Blackhawk helicopters, armored vehicles and large quantities of small arms, ammunition and communications equipment, which the Taliban regularly display in public to humiliate Washington. They, however, take the view that these are "spoils of war" that are "property of the Afghans" anyway.
Pakistan hopes for improvement in US relations
At the end of January, Trump therefore stopped most of the humanitarian aid to Afghanistan that had been flowing through the UN - over 2.1 billion dollars since the Taliban took power. This made the USA the largest donor. And has corresponding consequences: According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, nine million Afghans are now losing access to health care as a result.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz, an Afghanistan veteran, called Pakistan's deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar, as confirmed by the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad. Dar assured cooperation on the arms issue. After years of crisis, Pakistan's government hopes to improve its relations with Washington and to resume its previously extensive military and economic aid.
In addition, Pakistan, which has long been the Taliban's main supporter in Afghanistan, wants to restore its influence there, which has recently waned. An old border conflict has turned into fighting several times , most recently since the end of February. Pakistan also accuses Kabul of not taking sufficient action against the Pakistani Taliban movement TTP, which operates partly from Afghanistan.
A sign of good will
Pakistan therefore does not currently have enough political influence to persuade Afghanistan's Taliban regime to give in to Washington on the weapons issue - not to mention handing over Bagram. The latter could also put a strain on relations with China, which are essential for Pakistan in the area of tension with India. The topics of Bagram and China were therefore not mentioned in the announcements on the recent US-Pakistani telephone conversation.
It is difficult to imagine, although not impossible, that Pakistani or US military forces, perhaps even working together, will attempt to take over the giant Bagram base by force. However, the US should know that it should not underestimate the Taliban as an enemy again.
However, they may also want to accommodate Washington in order to improve their international status. If they allow the US military or security companies to fly out some weapons from former US stocks via Bagram, a face-saving solution for both sides could emerge.
Meanwhile, Pakistan provided the US with another sign of goodwill: It was left to Trump to announce to Congress on Tuesday that Pakistan's security forces had arrested and handed over to the US an Afghan who is believed to be the organizer of a major bomb attack at Kabul airport . During the troop withdrawal and evacuation of Afghan allies of the West, 13 US soldiers were killed in the attack. Trump expressed his thanks to Islamabad.
