Moscow, March 29 Moscow is concerned that the US might try to seize control of a key Afghan base amid its escalating military conflict with Iran, a senior Russian diplomat has said.
Speaking in an interview with the government news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy on Afghanistan, said that the US demand for the Bagram airbase is not new.
The Bagram airbase, located near the capital city, Kabul, was built in the 1950s by the former Soviet Union (USSR) and was widely used by Soviet forces during their intervention in Afghanistan, and later by US and NATO forces in operations against the Afghan Taliban.
"The Trump administration has repeatedly demanded the return of the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, which the US lost after their ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021," Kabulov said.
His comments came after he was asked to comment on the possibility of the US renewing its demand to the Afghan regime to access the Bagram airbase in the context of the massive US military deployment in West Asia.
Russia does not accept the deployment of US and NATO military facilities and infrastructure in Afghanistan or neighboring states, he said.
"We hope that the authorities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will continue to adopt a similar approach," he added.
In September 2021, US President Donald Trump had expressed a desire to regain control of Bagram airbase, a facility abandoned during the withdrawal, citing its strategic proximity to China.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for abandoning the base, which he described as a "disaster" and a "major airbase" that was "handed over for nothing," the Politico news outlet had reported.
Responding to a question on the ongoing Afghan-Pakistan clashes, Zamir Kabulov said, "Precisely predicting how long the current round of Afghan-Pakistan military conflict will last is a difficult task."
"The conflict has a history," he added.
Islamabad has accused the Afghan authorities for years of failing to take practical measures to curb the activities of anti-Pakistan terrorist groups, Kabulov said, adding that the Pakistani Taliban is entrenched in Afghanistan.
Pakistan claims that air strikes are being carried out specifically against the bases and infrastructure of the Pakistani Taliban, he added.