I love it. 'Ya KNOW we aren't sending in an additional 8,000 Marines just to check out the scenery. Me thinks al Qaeda is about to get another lesson on what it means to play with the big boys.
Posted on 03/25/2004 4:38:08 PM PST by LibWhacker
NEW DELHI, MARCH 25: Pakistan, which the US has decided to designate as ‘‘a major non-NATO ally’’, has provided five airbases to US forces and landing rights to their fighter aircraft anywhere in the country during emergency as part of its cooperation in the fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Pakistan has also granted two-thirds of its airspace as air corridors to the US-led coalition forces. ‘‘By doing so, Pakistan has had to reschedule or redirect many of the commercial flights,’’ Pakistani daily The News reported quoting a report of the US central command.
It said that Pakistan has been providing on an average, 0.4 million litres of fuel per day to the US forces and other services on the bases used by them. ‘‘A total of 57,800 sorties have been generated from Pakistan’s airspace’’.
Pakistan Navy has also provided landing facility to the coalition warships at Pasni, west of Karachi on the Arabian Sea coastline, while ‘‘curtailing’’ its own operations and training programmes in order to accommodate and facilitate these naval forces. ‘‘The naval operations in Pasni were the largest operations in size, duration and depth that the US marine corps has conducted since the Korean war,’’ the daily said.
The US Central Command report also ‘‘estimated a loss of over $10 billion since October 2001 to Pakistan due to its support to operation enduring freedom,’’ being carried out in Afghanistan.
According to the newspaper, Pakistan receives almost US $100 million on account of logistic support it has been providing to the US troops in the war against terrorism.
The Pakistani regime has also been charging ‘‘normalbilling’’ of fuel, water and communication, besides use of airbases and storage offered to the US troops along with communication, transport, training, repairs and maintenance services, it said.
In early 2002, the US and Pakistan had signed an Acquisition And Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) to facilitate reciprocal provision of logistics support between the two armed forces. This was to be used primarily during joint exercises, training, deployment, operations or other cooperative efforts.
With the US-led war against Al Qaeda and Taliban going on in the tribal areas where Pakistani forces have joined the US troops to carry out operations in Waziristan, Miran Shah and Wana areas, the Pakistani regime has apprehended over 550 most wanted men including top figures like Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Abu Zubaida and Ramzi Bin al-Shibha, and handed them over to the US.
I know India is a little upset with this non-NATO ally deal we've struck with Pakistan, but . . . Man!
However, just this week Pakistan has agreed to allow US warships to patrol in Pakistani water. That's a very big development. It's pretty clear that President Musharraf wants us to have as much access to Pakistani territory as he can get away with short of causing a huge domestic backlash.
I love it. 'Ya KNOW we aren't sending in an additional 8,000 Marines just to check out the scenery. Me thinks al Qaeda is about to get another lesson on what it means to play with the big boys.
LOL, no disrespect to you, LibWhacker, but this "news" is only about 3 years old!
Here's a link to an FR thread discussing our bases at Pasni, Dalbandin, Shamsi, Jacobabad, Rajanpur and Khohat (count 'em, that's six bases!) and the fact that we've been there since fall of 2001! There's nothing new here that hasn't already been all over the internet for years! Just for yucks, try Googling the base names listed above plus "U.S. troops" and see what you get.
Not only have we had a goodly number of U.S. forces stationed at those bases since 2001, there is also good reason to believe that we've also been running spec ops inside Pakistan from those same bases since the fall of 2003. Musharraf has been less than truthful with his homies about the true extent of American involvement inside his country. Possibly because they've already made several attempts to kill him and we're the only thing keeping him alive.
--Boot Hill
The Indian dislike of Pakistan is visceral and has led to war in the past. India considers irritating Pakistan to be a pleasant way to pass the time. They know that our boy Mushi is in deep trouble at home from the radical Islamists, and they think it's just funny as hell to increase that pressure on him with disclosures like those in the above article. I wonder how funny they will find it if Mushi is assassinated and the radical Islamists take over the Pakistani nuclear stockpile. Are you still laughing India?
--Boot Hill
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