Not a single foreign solider present in Afghanistan: Muttaqi

KABUL (Pajhwok): Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi says not a single foreign military personnel is present anywhere in Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) does not want any foreign military presence in the country.

His remarks came in response to repeated claims by US President Donald Trump regarding Bagram Airbase.

Trump has asserted on multiple occasions that Bagram Airbase was now under the control of Chinese forces and that the previous US administration should not have relinquished such a strategically important base.

However, addressing a graduation ceremony of dozens of diplomats at the Institute of Diplomacy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muttaqi responded: “Recently, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that foreigners have allegedly taken control of Bagram Airbase.”

He added: “We remind them that they must try to understand Afghanistan, the Afghan people, and—most importantly—the Islamic Emirate and its leadership. If the caretaker government had been willing to tolerate the presence of foreign forces, then what were the past 20 years of sacrifices and hundreds of thousands of martyrs for? If Afghans were ready to accept foreign military presence, they would have accepted the former Soviet Union. There would have been no mass migration or suffering.”

He stated that had Afghans been open to foreign military presence, they would have accepted the troops of the United States, NATO and nearly 50 other countries.

However, neither the Islamic Emirate nor the Afghan people accept any foreign military presence on Afghan soil.

Muttaqi stressed that this matter should be taken seriously by President Trump and other nations.

He said IEA maintains political, diplomatic and economic relations with other countries, but there is absolutely no foreign military presence in Afghanistan—a fact known to all.

He concluded: “We assure the entire world that there is not a single foreign soldier from any country present anywhere in Afghanistan.”

kk/ma