Washington: The United States has rejected demands from Pakistani that American personnel leave a military base used by the CIA to stage drone strikes, news agencies reported .
US personnel have not left Shamsi Air Base and there is no plan for them to do so, said a US official familiar with the matter.
“That base is neither vacated nor being vacated,” the official said. Earlier this week, Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said that Pakistan had already stopped US drone operations there.
He said Islamabad had been pressuring the US to vacate the base even before the May 2 commando raid in which US Navy SEAL commandos killed Osama bin Laden. After the raid, Mukhtar said, “We told them again.”
