WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has stepped up effort to shift its Afghanistan war operations from four Pakistani air bases, because of Pakistan's concerns about rising tensions with neighboring India, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
Citing Pakistani officials, the newspaper said Pakistan has quietly been discussing with the United States how long the U.S. military plans to remain at the bases that have been key components of the U.S. campaign.
The paper quoted unnamed officials as saying the Pentagon was moving quickly to shift air operations from Pakistan to other locations, such as newly obtained bases in the Central Asian nations of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The report said the Pentagon was also focusing on preparing the large U.S.-built airport outside the Afghan city of Kandahar for a high rate of operations.
Tension between India and Pakistan flared up last month after India blamed Pakistan-based Islamic militants groups for a Dec. 13 attack on India's parliament in which 14 people, including the five gunmen died.
The newspaper quoted a senior Pakistani military official as saying that Pakistan notified the United States that the bases that it was using in Jacobabad and Pasni might be needed to put the Pakistani air force on a war footing. The notification came late last month as tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, the report said.
The senior Pakistani military official told the Post that the two bases in question were partially reclaimed by Pakistani forces, before formal notice had been given to the United States.
``It was such an emergency situation that the Pakistan air force was ordered to move straight into the airports while the discussions with the U.S. officials on this subject were held later,'' the official said. ``We are now co-sharing the two air bases with American forces.''
Another official said the Pakistan military originally argued that it would need to evict the U.S. forces altogether, but after extensive negotiations between senior officials, it agreed to let some U.S. forces remain there.
However Asad Hayauddin, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Washington, denied that any Pakistani military aircraft were moved. Hayauddin told the newspaper that his government notified the United States late in December that if hostilities broke out with India, the Pakistani military planned to move forces onto some of the bases currently being used by U.S. forces.