PM Imran Khan will never allow handing over Pakistani bases to the US: FM Qureshi
Pakistan will neither provide its military or air bases to the US for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan nor permit it to conduct air strikes within the country, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi clarified.
Pakistani foreign minister made it clear in the parliamnet that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan would never provide military bases to the US, nor would allow drone attacks inside Pakistan.
While responding to the concern of a lawmaker that if civil war broke out in Afghanistan after US pullout it would have implications for Pakistan, FM Qureshi said the country favoured a responsible, orderly withdrawal.
“Because what we were fearing and we still fear and are concerned that a vacuum created in Afghanistan can drag or suck the country back into the decade of 1990s. There could be anarchy and God forbid a civil war,” he said.
The foreign minister’s remarks also came after a Pentagon official said Pakistan had allowed the US military to use its airspace and given it ground access so that it could support its military presence in Afghanistan. The military presence will end on September 11, 2021, with the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
A day earlier, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed that “there was no U.S. military or air base in Pakistan nor was any such proposal envisaged”, stating that “any speculation on this account was baseless and irresponsible and should be avoided.”
Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudri clarified that Pakistan and the U.S. 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.”