Washington, December 01: The United States is planning to vacate a remote air base in Pakistan that has reportedly been used for conducting assassination drone attacks in the country’s tribal areas.
Washington is acceding to Islamabad’s demands that US forces leave the Shamsi Air Base in Pakistan’s Balochistan province within 15 days, Reuters reported late Tuesday.
Pakistan has also blocked ground supply routes through the country to the US-led forces in Afghanistan to protest recent NATO attacks on two Pakistani military outposts near the Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26.
The Pakistani government has strongly condemned the strikes as a violation of its territory. Islamabad has also rejected recent US claims that Pakistani troops had opened fire first, prompting the US-led forces to retaliate.
The November 26 raids have pushed the already troubled ties between Islamabad and Washington closer to a breakdown following a year of crises.
——–Agencies