Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar said, “We will take over Shamsi Air Base on Dec.11 and will not allow the United States to carry out further drone attacks.”
Talking to reporters Mukhtar said it was decided by Defense Coordination Committee of Pakistan to take complete control of the airbase, disallow the US and NATO to use Pakistan’s sea and airports for NATO’s supplies through Pakistan and “resist further drone attacks.”
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also said on Wednesday, “The United States has been asked to vacate Shamsi Air Base within 10 days period.”
According reports the US is preparing to accede to Pakistani demands to vacate the air base used for drone flights, but the move is not expected to have a significant impact on operations against militants, a US sources said.
Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry official said Pakistan’s decision not to attend a conference on the future of Afghanistan in Germany next week, taken to protest against a NATO cross-border attack that killed 28 soldiers, is final.
“Of course it’s the final word. Pakistan is not attending,” the official told Reuters, shortly after the German government urged Islamabad to reverse its stand.
However, NATO said Pakistan is showing signs it might be willing to cooperate with the coalition again.
NATO spokesman in Kabul, German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said Wednesday that Pakistani security forces fully cooperated with NATO during a cross-border incident the night before in Paktia province along the border.
