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U.S. Military Personnel in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Oct 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Pakistan admitted Thursday that U.S. military personnel were already in the country but insisted no combat troops had been deployed on its territory, news agencies reported.
"There are no U.S. troops in Pakistan, but Pakistan has agreed to provide logistical support and intelligence sharing [for U.S. action against Afghanistan] and of course we are interacting with U.S. personnel in this regard," government spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The spokesman refused to elaborate on what is a hugely sensitive issue for the country in the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's decision to support U.S. action against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, which Pakistan had previously backed.
Since the attacks on the U.S., and in anticipation of U.S. military action against Afghanistan, anti-U.S. and pro-Taliban protests across Pakistan have cost at least five lives. Many Pakistani religious groups feel it is wrong for their country to back the U.S. in attacks on another Muslim country.
Pakistan has ruled out that its territory would be used to stage attacks on Afghanistan for fear of a backlash from sections of its own population. Some religious group members have vowed to attack any U.S. forces entering the country.
But Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Aziz Khan, reiterated Musharraf's statement that the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan would be short and would target only terrorists, and that U.S. President George W. Bush's statement on the length of the war against terrorism referred to other fronts besides the military campaign, according to an Iranian news agency report.
Military sources said the provision of logistical support to the U.S. operation could involve the stationing of U.S. medical personnel in Pakistan and the establishment of facilities to mount possible search and rescue operations for pilots or other U.S. forces stranded inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan has also agreed to put two airports at the disposal of U.S. forces to ensure they can mount rapid search and recovery operations for troops or pilots in Afghanistan, senior government officials said on Thursday.
The officials stressed that Islamabad was maintaining its stance that the country would not be used as a base for offensive action against Afghanistan, saying that the scope of the assistance being offered to the Americans was covered by Musharraf's agreement to provide the U.S. with logistical support for any operation.
A CNN report earlier Thursday told of media reports about U.S. military aircraft and troops having been sighted at a Pakistani airport. The report said that Pakistani and Pentagon officials were initially refusing to comment on the media reports and confirm whether or not there were in fact U.S. troops on the ground.
Witnesses told AFP Wednesday they had seen what they believed to be U.S. cargo planes and helicopters landing at two remote airports in the desert province of Baluchistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
CNN also reported that an English language newspaper in Islamabad quoted witnesses who saw at least 10 U.S. military planes and three helicopters at Jacobabad airport.
Jacobabad resident Amir Bhatti told AFP Thursday that he had seen "30 or 50 white women in shorts doing exercises in the grounds of the airport."
The sightings were reported at the airport in Jacobabad, near the center of the province, and at Pasni, a remote coastal town on the Arabian Sea coast near the Pakistani naval base of Gwadar in western Baluchistan.
A government official said arrangements had been made for the two airports to be used by U.S. forces.
"Only search and recovery facilities will be provided if required," he told AFP. "There is no possibility of any offensive being launched from Pakistan."
Officials at Jacobabad said the Pakistani army had significantly boosted its presence in the city in recent days, with checkpoints set up on the roads leading to the airport.
Musharraf on Monday confirmed that U.S.-led forces had used its airspace to attack Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia over its refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden.
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