Defense
Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar’s remarks on Wednesday that the US had been
asked to vacate Shamsi Air Base was the latest salvo as the two countries
tussle over their interests in an Afghanistan settlement. The Pakistani
government seeks to publicly distance itself from Washington.
“We have
been talking to them (on the issue) for some time, but after May 2 we told them
again,” Mukhtar told reporters on Thursday. “When they (US forces) will not
operate from there (Shamsi Air Base), no drone attacks will be carried
out."
According
to the sources, the CIA, which has been using Shamsi Air Base in Pakistan since
2004, had to develop other sources, largely based in Afghanistan, to carry out
its drone operations targeting Al-Qaeda and its affiliates are allegedly using
sanctuaries in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Pakistan
had asked US to vacate Shamsi Air Base shortly after the arrest of CIA
operative Raymond Davis, and since then CIA is primarily using Afghan soil to
execute its drone operations, the sources said.
Sources
further said that the CIA is using two airstrips — one at Jalalabad Air Base
and the other at Bagaram Air Base in Afghanistan — to carry out its drone
operations.
