US personnel have not left the remote Pakistani military installation known as Shamsi Air Base and there is no plan for them to do so, said a US official familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive material. “That base is neither vacated nor being vacated,” the official said.
The information was confirmed by a second US official. The US declaration that drone operations in will continue unabated is the latest twist in a fraught relationship between security authorities in Washington and Islamabad, which has been under increasing strain for months. Regarding the Shamsi base in particular, Pakistani officials have frequently suggested it is being shuttered, comments that may be aimed at quieting domestic opposition to US military operations using Pakistani soil.
Earlier this week, Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told the Financial Times that Pakistan had already stopped US drone operations there. On Thursday, Mukhtar told Reuters: “When they (US forces) will not operate from there, no drone attacks will be carried out.” He said Islamabad had been pressuring the US to vacate the base even before the May 2 commando raid in which US Navy SEAL commandos killed Osama bin Laden.
After the raid, Mukhtar said, “We told them again.” A senior Pakistani military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that when US forces first launched counter-terrorism operations in , Pakistan “provided Americans two bases in Jacobabad and Shamsi. Jacobabad base has been vacated for long time ago, but Shamsi is still with them.” “They are vacating it,” the official insisted. “Shamsi base was for logistic purpose. They also used it for drones for some time but no drones have been flown from there.”
DIFFERENT STORIES: The official said no base in Pakistan was presently used by the Americans for drone operations. But he did not give a precise date for when drones supposedly stopped operating from Shamsi. The US officials disputed that account.
