Pakistan's defense minister tells U.S. to stop using drone base

Reuters
5:41 AM PDT, June 30, 2011

Facing domestic political pressure, Pakistan's government escalated the war of words with the United States, with its defense minister repeating calls for the U.S. to stop using a remote air base for drone strikes and to vacate the base.

Relations between the two uneasy allies have been on a downward slide for months, but deteriorated after the May 2 raid by U.S. SEALs in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden's presence in a military town less than a kilometer from Pakistan's version of West Point reinforced suspicion in the United States that elements of Pakistan's security establishment may have helped hide him.

Wednesday's remarks by Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar that the U.S. had been asked to vacate Shamsi Air Base, in the remote southwest part of the country, was the latest salvo as the two countries tussle over their interests in an Afghanistan settlement and the Pakistani government seeks to publicly distance itself from Washington.

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