- KARACHI - As the tension
peaked on the borders coupled with Indian Air Force decision to move its
ground attack and fighter squadrons to forward bases late last month, Pakistan
quickly moved elements of its air force into the air bases at Jacobabad
and Pasni to co-share the facilities with the United States forces, ending
about three month long exclusive use of these airports by the US military,
well placed Pakistani officials said.
The United States authorities are still allowed exclusive use of the airstrips
at Dalbandin and Al-Shamsi in Balochistan. Army and Air Force special operations
teams of the US military, besides troops from 101st Airborne division,
are currently posted at four Pakistani bases to conduct combat, search
and rescue operations inside Afghanistan.
Officials said Jacobabad and Pasni are two of the many operational bases
used by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in all emergencies and the recent Indian
military mobilisation forced Pakistani military leaders to requisition
both airports from the US Central Command, a decision that triggered urgent
top-level military consultations between the Pakistani and the US military
commanders.
"It was such an emergency situation that Pakistan Air Force was ordered
to move straight into the airports while the discussions with the US officials
on this subject were held later," said a senior official. He added:
"The US military was not delighted but it had no doubt that Pakistan
required both bases to meet the war-like situation with India."
Pakistani officials said the PAF needed an exclusive use of both facilities,
but it agreed to let some important elements of the US forces stay and
co-share most of the facilities at Jacobabad and Pasni airbases with PAF
after the military leaders of the two countries held extensive behind-the-scene
discussions.
The co-sharing of all the facilities at the Jacobabad and Pasni airports
was the centrepiece of sensitive discussion held between the US Chairman
Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers and his counterpart General
Mohammad Aziz Khan and the Joint Staff Headquarters in Rawalpindi late
last month, officials said.
Before reaching Rawalpindi, officials said, for a hurriedly arranged meeting
with General Aziz Khan while President General Pervez Musharraf was visiting
China, General Richard Myers had made an unpublicised visit to the Jacobabad
airport where he met the US officers and inspected the facility.
Pakistani officials have underlined that they were forced to reclaim the
two airports mainly because of the Indian preparations for war with Pakistan,
a development independently confirmed by the Pentagon. Just one month before
the military build-up on the borders, officials said, Pakistan was so comfortable
with the United States military presence in the country that it had allowed
extended stay of the US military in Pakistan by giving permission to the
US central command to improve infrastructure at the Jacobabad airport,
a project that would have cost several million dollars to the US military.
A US-sponsored multi-million dollar construction and repairs work was in
progress when the Pakistan Air Force moved some of its resources to the
Jacobabad and Pasni airports 10 days ago. Pakistani officials noted that
the Indian military build-up strained the US political and military objectives
in Afghanistan as it forced Pakistan not only to restrict the US military
activities out of Jacobabad and Pasni, it also prompted Pakistani authorities
to move a big chunk of its troops from the provinces of NWFP and Balochistan
to its eastern borders.
Dalbandin airstrip, though not used for commercial purposes, offers extensive
Boeing compatible runway, besides reasonable parking and related services.
Dalbandin airport had been raised in late eighties with Saudi financial
assistance, as Saudi and other Gulf states princes frequent this desert
Balochistan town during bird hunting seasons.
Troops presence in the provinces bordering Afghanistan and relaxed situation
at borders with India before December 13 had allowed Pakistan Army to carry
out an active anti-terrorist operation against fleeing Al-Qaeda supporters
in the tribal areas of the NWFP. During the same period Pakistan Army commissioned
its Special Services Group (SSG) to raid suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in
the tribal areas.
While most military analysts are attributing Pakistan's decision to demand
extensive use of Jacobabad and Pasni airports and thinning out of the troops
from the borders with Afghanistan to country's military operational requirements,
some military analysts have guessed that Pakistan moved a little faster
than required to reclaim facilities from the US forces to express its uneasiness
to a decision by the US central command to relocate its aircraft carrier
Kitty Hawk, a move by the US military that provided hostile Indian navy
a vacant corridor in the sea to make an approach to Pakistani waters.
"In the present state of relationship we wouldn't expect the US military
to make a move to Indian advantage," a military analyst said. This
analyst shares perception in a small quarter of military thinkers in Pakistan
that the US has not yet used its leverage with India to discourage the
military build-up despite knowing fully well that the Musharraf administration
was committed to strike out all forms of religious extremism from Pakistan.
Before Pakistan's decision to co-share Jacobabad and Pasni airports with
the US forces 10 days ago, several hundred US armymen were housed in 42
aircraft hangars at the Jacobabad airport, 300 miles northeast of Karachi,
where the US military had installed its own radar equipment at a premises
that was used as air traffic control facility by the Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA).
The coastal town of Pasni, 180 miles west of Karachi, where more than a
dozen US military helicopters were seen parked at the airport last week,
is providing the nearest ground facility to a large US naval flotilla now
stationed in the Arabian Sea for aerial raids against Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials say that the PAF may want to use the Pasni airport,
in case of war with India, to interdict Indian naval and commercial activity
in the India Ocean. While the Pakistani air force presence may restrict
to some extent the US military activities out of Jacobabad and Pasni airports,
the US central command would still have an exclusive access to Dalbandin
airbase, 170 miles southwest of Quetta and only 20 miles away from Afghan
border which served as a forward base for the US forces for special operations
in southern Afghanistan.
The News International, Pakistan http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2002-daily/11-01-2002/main/main2.htm
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