Taliban Reject Trump's Call to Surrender Captured U.S. Arms

On 1 March 2025, after his first Cabinet meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump said the Taliban should return the equipment the U.S. abandoned in Afghanistan as it withdrew in August 2021. He added that U.S. troops should return to Bagram air base, which he claimed was occupied by Chinese troops. This isn’t the first time Trump demanded the return of U.S. equipment. On the eve of his inauguration in January 2025, Trump declared that future financial assistance to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would depend on the return of the abandoned…