In an unexpected turn of events, India has joined the Taliban, Pakistan, China and Russia to oppose US President Donald Trump’s bid to take over the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. This comes days before the scheduled visit of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi later this week. While not naming Bagram, a sharply worded joint statement issued by participants of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan said on Tuesday: “They (the participants) called unacceptable the attempts by countries to deploy their military infrastructure in Afghanistan and neighboring states, since this does not serve the interests of regional peace and stability.” The seventh meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan was held in Moscow at the level of special representatives and senior officials of Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. A delegation from Belarus also attended the meeting as guests. “For the first time, the Afghan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi participated in the meeting as a member,” the statement said. Trump has demanded that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban hand over the country’s Bagram air base to Washington, five years after he signed a deal with the group that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Kabul. At a press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on September 18, Trump said the US government was “trying to get (Bagram) back”. “We gave it to (the Taliban) for nothing. We want that base back,” he said. Two days later, he posted on his Truth Social platform: “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram air base back to those that built it, the United States of America, bad things are going to happen!” Quite predictably, the Taliban have rejected Trump’s demand, with chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying: “Afghans will never allow their land to be handed over to anyone under any circumstances”. Now, interestingly, Delhi has joined in to oppose Trump's plan, ahead of Muttaqi’s first visit to India - a historic first for a Taliban foreign minister. The Bagram air base, which has two concrete runways (one is 3.6 km, the other 3 km), lies about 50 km outside Kabul. Afghanistan's rugged, mountainous terrain makes controlling its airspace difficult, with few places suitable for landing large military planes and weapons carriers. Bagram - the country’s largest air base – is one of the few such air bases, making it a strategic stronghold. It played a key role in the US's “war on terror” after 2001. The Moscow format joint statement also said: “The parties reaffirmed their unwavering support for the establishment of Afghanistan as an independent, united and peaceful state.” It said they “called for strengthening counter-terrorism cooperation at both bilateral and multilateral levels. They emphasised that Afghanistan should be supported to undertake comprehensive measures aimed at the elimination of terrorism and its eradication within a short timeframe so that Afghan soil is not used as a threat to the security of the neighboring countries and beyond. The parties underscored that terrorism constitutes a serious threat to the security of Afghanistan, the region and the wider world.” The reference to “Afghan soil” in the context of “security of the neighboring countries” is from India's perspective - a message to Pakistan. The parties noted the need for development of economic and trade exchanges, investment cooperation of Afghanistan with regional countries and the international community. They expressed their interest in developing regional economic projects with Afghan participation and promoting progress in fields such as healthcare, poverty alleviation, agriculture and disaster prevention, to help Afghanistan realise independent and sustainable development. “They supported the active integration of Afghanistan into the system of regional connectivity,” the joint statement said, again from India’s perspective, a message to the US that has removed the sanctions waiver on the Chabahar port in Iran, used to access Afghanistan from Delhi. It said the parties reiterated their “commitment to continue humanitarian support to the Afghan people, and called on the international community to intensify provision of emergency humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, while simultaneously reaffirming opposition to the attempts of politicising it”. In a historic first, Muttaqi is set to visit India later this week, after the UN Security Council allowed him to travel to New Delhi from October 9 to 16. Since Muttaqi is on the list of sanctioned individuals - applicable to Taliban leaders - under the UNSC Resolution 1988 (2011), he needed the approval.
