Title: Pakistan denies ‘presence of US military or air base’ yet again
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Islamabad on Thursday categorically denied the presence of any US military base in Pakistan, saying speculations in this regard are “baseless and irresponsible”.
“There is no US military or air base in Pakistan; nor was any such proposal envisaged. Any speculation on this account was baseless and irresponsible and should be avoided,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said in a statement.
He added that Pakistan and the United States have a framework of cooperation in terms of Air Lines of Communication (ALOC) and Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) in place since 2001.
“No new agreement has been made in this regard.?”
Pakistan last month denied that it had reached any formal agreement with the US for the use of its airspace to conduct “military and intelligence operations” in Afghanistan.
The statement came after the CNN, in its report, cited three "sources familiar with the details of a classified briefing" to the US Congress, and said that the Biden administration had informed US lawmakers that the country was close to striking a formal deal with Pakistan on the use of its airspace to conduct operations in Afghanistan.
The report claimed that Pakistan had "expressed a desire" to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in return for help in its own counterterrorism operations and assistance with managing the relationship with India.
Also read: Will not allow any foreign bases in Pakistan, reiterates PM Imran
It further maintained that according to a source, negotiations were still underway and the details of the agreement, which have not yet been hammered out, were still subject to change.
The briefing comes as the White House is still trying to ensure that it can carry out counterterrorism operations against ISIS-K and other adversaries in Afghanistan now that there is no longer a US presence on the ground for the first time in two decades after the Nato withdrawal from the country.
The US military currently uses Pakistan's airspace to reach Afghanistan as part of ongoing intelligence-gathering efforts but there is no formal agreement in place to ensure continued access to a critical piece of airspace necessary for the US to reach the landlocked country.
The air corridor through Pakistan to Afghanistan may become even more critical if and when the US resumes flights into Kabul to fly out American citizens and others who remain in the country following a hasty withdrawal of the Western forces after two decades of inconclusive war.
The third source said that an agreement was discussed when US officials visited Pakistan but it's not yet clear what Pakistan wants or how much the US would be willing to give in return.
Published Date: 04-Nov-2021
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