December 15, 2001
Pak agrees to long-term US presence at Jacobabad base
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has accepted a US request for long-term presence at Jacobabad air base, one of the three Pakistani air bases given to American forces to provide logistic support to their units in Afghanistan. "In the foreseeable future, Jacobabad airbase would continue to serve as a key facility for the US military's peacekeeping or counter terrorism operations in Afghanistan," said a Pakistani military official familiar with discussions on the subject. The US has asked, according to media, that all but a few Pakistani liaison officers be withdrawn from the base in southern Sindh province. US officials also want to renovate the air base with 40,000 metric tons of concrete, security officials said. The American officials have asked that a wall surrounding the base be raised to four feet and want to construct air-conditioned barracks for their troops in time for summer.
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