ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) has rejected speculations about the presence of a US military or airbase inside Pakistan, stating that such “baseless and irresponsible speculations” must be avoided.
In a statement issued on late Monday night, FO Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudri said, “There is no US military or air base in Pakistan, nor was any such proposal envisaged. Any speculation on this account is baseless and irresponsible and should be avoided.”
The spokesperson further said Pakistan and the US have a framework of cooperation in terms of the Air Lines of Communication (ALOC) and Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) in place since 2001. “No new agreement has been made in this regard,” he maintained.
Speculations started doing the rounds after a media report stated that Pakistan would continue to provide air and ground access to the US military for its Afghan operations.
FO explanation termed ‘unsatisfactory’
Meanwhile, senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the Foreign Office’s explanation of the US military base was unsatisfactory.
He added that the Pak-US Air-Ground Communication Agreement must have been signed in 2001 and asked the authorities to explain what were the terms of the agreement. He also sought an explanation as to when implementation on the agreement was halted.
“If there’s no new agreement between the two sides when was the previous one renewed and who signed this?” he asked. The PML-N leader also asked the government why the matter was not discussed in the cabinet and the National Assembly.
Pakistan to continue to provide air, ground access
Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Affairs David F Helvey told US lawmakers during a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Pakistan would continue to provide air and ground access to the US.
“Pakistan has played an important role in Afghanistan. They supported the Afghan peace process. Pakistan also has allowed us to have overflight and access to be able to support our military presence in Afghanistan,” Helvey added.
In response to another question by Senator Manchin about how the US administration would ensure that terrorists do not return to Afghanistan, Helvey said, “We will have to work with our local and regional partners, and we want to continue developing those capabilities and those partnerships to be able to ensure that we have the right of framework to address the threats.”
