International Initiative for Peace
Imperialism is not an optional “policy”, but a structural “necessity” for the capitalist system in its monopoly-financial stage. Imperialism is the highest and inherent stage of the capitalist system, whose essence is crystallized in war, aggression, occupation, plunder and exploitation of nations. To escape its internal contradictions and ongoing crises, including falling rates of profit, this system requires constant expansion into new markets, cheap resources, and spheres of influence. This expansion is inherently accompanied by bloody military wars, military aggression, interventions, state overthrows, occupations, and the creation of structural instability. Afghanistan has been a victim of this predatory policy of imperialists and colonial powers for at least half a century.
Donald Trump’s recent statements: “If Afghanistan doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN,” are nothing more than a reiteration of the same language of threats, bullying, and imperialist unilateralism that unmasks the true face of US policies. These words are merely a continuation of the same logic of hegemony that led Afghanistan to the brink of destruction in 2001 under the false pretext of the “war on terrorism”.
US imperialism under Donald Trump with its constant threat of annexing Canada as the 51st state of the United States, attempts to occupy Greenland, pressure Panama to seize control of the Panama Canal, warning to evacuate Gaza from its native inhabitants and hand it over to the US to build a dreamy, profitable tourist zone, selling modern weapons and financial assistance to continue the war in Ukraine, financing and arming Israel for genocide in Palestine, and supporting Israel’s attacks and aggression on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and Qatar, the dispatch of warships and military forces to the coast of Venezuela to overthrow the elected government of Maduro, and finally, now the threat of re-occupying Afghanistan, reflects the nature of US imperialism for capital accumulation and economic and political hegemony.
The dire economic, geopolitical, and class consequences of this war-mongering and predatory policy of American imperialism, and the entire capitalist system based on private property and unfair production relations, are directed at the working class and toiling classes around the world. The military, economic, and geopolitical approaches of the Trump administration, as a prominent representative of the savage capitalist system, show how US imperialism and its NATO partners continue to play a deadly game with their rivals over the bones of the people of Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and now Afghanistan and in this path, it even uses fundamentalist forces and terrorist groups it has cultivated.
Bagram’s Strategic Importance in the Cold War and Beyond
Bagram Air Base, located in Afghanistan’s Parwan Province, is more than a military base; it is a geopolitical symbol. Its construction began by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, as part of Cold War competition and to provide aid to the then Afghan government. But after the Soviet military invasion in 1979, this base became the main logistical and operational center of the Red Army and played a key role as a tool for dominating the region.
After the Soviet withdrawal, the base came under the control of the Soviet puppet government of Najibullah, and between 1992 and 1996, the Islamic government of the Mujahideen and warlords supported by Pakistan, the West, and Arab governments. With the fall of the Mujahideen government in 1996, the base was taken over by the Taliban and became a training center for domestic and international terrorists.
But with the US invasion in October 2001, Bagram once again became the center of military power for a foreign superpower. The base, covering an area of 77 square kilometers, has two runways over 3,000 meters long, and is capable of deploying more than 100 fighter jets, including B-1B and B-52 strategic bombers. At the height of NATO’s presence, the base had become a “mini-military city” with more than 10,000 American and NATO personnel, a large Guantanamo-style prison, chain restaurants, bowling alleys, and advanced communications and spying facilities. For two decades, Bagram was the coordination center for bombings, night raids, and gruesome interrogations for the United States and NATO.
Now, Trump and his warmongering circle are eager to reclaim this strategic base. The US claim that the base is now in the service and occupation of China, or that the US needs it to “fight terrorism,” is a big and repeated lie. The history of the past two decades has proven that the US military and intelligence presence in Afghanistan not only did not eradicate terrorism, but also created objective conditions of poverty, insecurity, and instability, providing a platform for the growth and proliferation of more than 22 new terrorist groups. The slogan of fighting terrorism is a profitable business for US imperialism and an excuse to expand its influence and hegemony.
The hasty and disgraceful US withdrawal in August 2021 and the fall of Bagram to the Taliban dealt a severe blow to the international prestige of US imperialism. Both during his election campaign and now, Donald Trump always blames the Biden administration for America’s defeat in Afghanistan, the shameful withdrawal of its military forces from Bagram base, and the abandonment of more than $ 80 billion worth of military equipment to the Taliban.Therefore, the Trump administration’s effort to retake Bagram is not just a strategic goal, but an attempt to regain that lost credibility and demonstrate strength.
Monetary deal in exchange for national sovereignty and war economy
Pakistani media reports that the US and the Taliban are negotiating a monthly payment of $300 million to the Taliban in exchange for the use of Bagram is a classic example of the political economy of war, where the ruling classes are willing to accept any disgraceful position and deal to survive, without the slightest benefit reaching the people and the working classes.
From this perspective, the Taliban, as the current rulers of Afghanistan, have put Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity up for sale as a commodity in the global and regional political market in order to continue their medieval rule. The Taliban’s demand of $1 billion per month from the United States in exchange for the handover of the Bagram base indicates their understanding of the strategic value of this commodity.
The US payment of this amount is effectively a rental of an instrument of violence. This budget could easily be financed through the US military budget, which reached $886 billion in 2024, while at the same time generating huge profits for the US Military-Industrial Complex through contracts to maintain, fuel and supply weapons to the base.
This economic model exposes the true nature of the war on terror: the transformation of violence into a profitable industry for the capitalist ruling class and the oligarchs who control major economic resources. The US presence in Afghanistan cost American taxpayers more than $2.3 trillion between 2001 and 2021, according to the Watson Institute at Brown University. Returning to Bagram is, in effect, a reinjection of money into the war machine of a capitalist ruling minority.
Buying the national sovereignty of a country for money may be the cheapest way that America can dream of. But everyone knows that the Taliban regime has no legitimacy among the Afghan people, and no foreign country, except Russia, has so-called recognized it. Therefore, any agreement or deal with the hated Taliban regime is considered a betrayal of the Afghan people. Furthermore, the official and secret negotiations of the American delegation with the misogynistic Taliban regime make a mockery of America’s claim to oppose the Taliban because of their human rights and women’s rights violations. For US imperialism and its NATO allies, human values are important when they serve as a pretext for pressure; and when their strategic interests require it, they enter into deals and friendships with even the darkest forces.
The geopolitical importance of Bagram as a lever to contain China, Russia, and the region
The importance of Bagram to the US is not limited to Afghanistan or the Taliban. The geographical location of the base makes it a key strategic asset in the competition with China, Russia, and their allies in the region:
It is understandable why Donald Trump’s latest statements are being taken very seriously by China and Russia, who are expressing their concern. China and Russia’s opposition to the US military presence in Afghanistan is not out of compassion for the Afghan people, but rather due to their own strategic calculations against US hegemony.
After the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Chinese government and its affiliated companies entered Afghanistan. While in the first two years of Taliban rule, the streets of Kabul and other provinces of Afghanistan were filled with widespread women’s protests against the Taliban every day, and the female protesters chanted slogans of “bread, work, freedom,” and the Taliban responded by shooting, beatings, imprisonment, and torture; the Chinese government, led by the “Communist Party”, shamelessly engaged in political and economic deals with such a misogynistic, anti-science, anti-freedom, and anti-civilization regime.
Ignoring the Taliban’s inhumane and brutal behavior towards the Afghan people, especially women and girls, and ethnic and religious minorities, the Chinese government invested in the extraction of Afghanistan’s minerals and economic resources and signed dozens of contracts worth tens of billions of dollars with the illegitimate Taliban regime. On January 31, 2024, Xi Jinping became the first foreign president to accept the credentials of the Taliban ambassador to Beijing.
Russia and China are under illusions about their stance against the Taliban. They still do not understand the Taliban regime properly. They hope that they will use the Taliban against America and the West and prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups into Central Asia and China.
But on August 28, 2025, the Taliban proved that they do not adhere to any diplomatic principles and regulations by canceling the 25-year “Amu Darya Oil Extraction” contract with a Chinese company and arresting 12 Chinese employees in northern Afghanistan. Therefore, if the negotiations between the Taliban and the US on handing over the Bagram base to the US in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars per month, recognition of the Taliban government, release of frozen Afghan money, and removal of the names of Taliban leaders from the UN blacklist are successful, the renewed US military presence in Afghanistan could disturb the sweet dreams of China and Russia.
The Afghan people are caught between two fires
The internal situation in Afghanistan is tragic. The people of this country are caught between two destructive forces:
These warlords in exile expressed their satisfaction and support for Trump’s threat and announcement of the occupation of the Bagram military base by the United States, and expressed their readiness to serve the United States as local mercenary forces. The recent agreement by the US Congress to pass a law to facilitate Intelligence information sharing with Taliban opponents also shows that Washington is implementing a dual strategy, both negotiating and making financial deals with the Taliban and supporting opposition forces to pressure them.
Military occupation or intelligence occupation
Taliban military forces entered Kabul on August 15, 2021, and took control of Kabul airport and other provinces. The withdrawal of US and NATO military forces under Taliban supervision and assurance was completed between August 15 and August 31, 2021. The US and NATO withdrew their military forces, but their intelligence presence never diminished.
Although the Taliban claim independence, everyone knows that Afghan airspace is still controlled by the United States and that American, British, German, and French intelligence forces have a strong presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban cannot continue to rule Afghanistan without the weekly aid of $40-80 million. This cash support from the United States has stabilized the value of the Afghani against foreign currencies and has even improved compared to the time of Ashraf Ghani.
Perhaps the US will not be able to take over the Bagram base with its military presence like Germany, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but in the era of technology and artificial intelligence, the US is able to achieve its goals in a different way by colluding with the Taliban.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Peace and a key member of the 2020 Doha Peace Agreement between the US and the Taliban, has clearly written on his page X on September 21, 2025, that the US never intends to have a military presence in Afghanistan again and only wants to ensure that the Bagram base does not serve Afghanistan’s neighbors (China).
The Experience of the Russia-Ukraine War
The United States and NATO, contrary to the peace agreements with the Soviet Union to end the Cold War, continued the Cold War and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, practically created the conditions for direct confrontation by encircling Russia and its allies with the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe. The roots of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine must be sought before 2014, when the US and NATO tightened the encirclement of Russia every day and ignored Russia’s growing warnings and concerns. After 2014, Ukraine, on the border with Russia and Belarus, had practically become a major intelligence and operational center for the US and NATO against Russia. With the bullying action of the US, France, England and Germany; Russia invaded Ukrainian territory with the justification of self-defense and preventive action. But Donald Trump always reminds in his speeches that if he were the president of the US, the war between Russia and Ukraine would never have happened.
The Taliban cannot afford to give more power and influence to either of these two nuclear rivals and the world’s largest and second largest economic giants on Afghan soil. Giving special privileges to one stakeholder will only provoke and anger the other. The United States will not tolerate China’s billion-dollar investment in Afghanistan’s natural resources and mines or its use of the Bagram military base, and neither can China, Russia, and Iran remain indifferent to the widespread American influence in Afghanistan against their own security.
The United States has long opposed China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, which would connect Asia, Africa, and Europe through 65 countries. In addition to its economic benefits, the initiative could also contribute to China’s hegemony and influence in these three continents. The implementation of this $8 trillion plan would undoubtedly jeopardize US strategic interests in these three continents and bring traditional US allies closer to China.
In September 2025, the US placed India in an economic and transit dilemma by sanctioning Iran’s Chabahar port, thus benefiting Pakistan, India’s major regional rival. The US’s numerous concessions to Pakistan and the imposition of a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods strained India-US relations. The last meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states in Tianjin, China in August 2025, clearly showed that China has used the new developments to its advantage and has found new powerful friends like India. China is trying at every step to replace America in regional and global equations.
As mentioned in the introduction, imperialist powers are willing to implement any anti-human and anti-environmental scenario for profit and greater hegemony over their rivals. In Ukraine, Russia is actually at war with NATO, and there is a possibility of using nuclear weapons and starting a third world war. Therefore, it is not in the interest of any country or nation that the catastrophic scenario of the Russia-Ukraine war be tested once again between the United States and China in the geography of Afghanistan.
Left Alternative
The Taliban or any affiliated and undemocratic regime may want to bargain with America or any other bully over the fate of the Afghan people, but history has shown that the Afghan people have never surrendered to the occupation and aggression of foreign empires and powers and have overthrown and defeated them with their local puppet governments. Given this unique background of the Afghan people, neither the Donald Trump administration dares to reoccupy Afghanistan, nor can the Taliban make this deal easily. The geopolitical location of Afghanistan and the nature of its people make it impossible for any aggressor or bully to swallow this delicious morsel with ease.
From the perspective of the Radical Left of Afghanistan (LRA), the way to save Afghanistan and establish stability in the region lies neither in the return of imperialism and going to war with its rivals in Afghanistan, nor in consolidating the rule of Islamic fundamentalism. The only possible alternative is the organization of a united and independent struggle of the toiling masses, workers, intellectuals and women around a progressive, democratic, secular, anti-imperialist, anti-fundamentalist and justice-seeking program. Creating a front consisting of leftist, secular, and democratic forces that seek to establish a secular, decentralized republic based on social justice and equal rights for women can cut off the imperialists’ hand from Bagram and Afghanistan and ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region.
Left Radical Afghanistan (LRA)
September 22, 2025
Afghanistan
