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CIA drones 'using Pakistani air base'
Sydney Morning Herald - February 19, 2009
Paola Totaro, London – An air base in southern Pakistan has been identified as the operating centre used secretly by the CIA to launch Predator drones that conduct missions against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan.
Use of the strip to run covert military operations on Pakistani territory has been revealed by an investigation conducted by The Times newspaper in London and is likely to create enormous controversy in the predominantly Muslim nation. The nature of the operations has been denied by Pakistan and the US.
Information critical to the investigation was found on one of the Pentagon's websites, which showed delivery of 2.8 million litres of F34 aviation fuel to a remote airstrip known as Shamsi. The Pentagon provided no explanation for the delivery.
The revelation is significant because the Pakistan Government has demanded that the US stop drone missions into tribal areas, arguing they have resulted in civilian deaths and burgeoning anti-American sentiment.
According to the investigation, the CIA has used the Shamsi airfield for more than a year. The airstrip is in the south-western province of Baluchistan, about 50 kilometres from the Afghan border. It provides US forces with the ability to launch a drone within minutes of receiving intelligence.
It was already known that the US used Shamsi during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan but the Pakistan Government stated that the Americans had left it – and two other air bases – in 2006.
The CIA and the Pentagon declined to comment. The Times quoted senior Western sources claiming the Predator flights are "run routinely" from Shamsi, and several locals who claim to have seen the planes. They say that the airfield is under the control of American forces and guarded by Pakistani military.
A Pakistani military spokesman said that US forces were using the field for "logistics" but would not elaborate.
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