Pakistan
ordered a review of all arrangements with the United States and NATO, including
diplomatic, political, military and intelligence activities, following a deadly
cross-border strike.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of senior cabinet
ministers and military chiefs chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, his
office said, after Pakistan said up to 26 soldiers were killed in the
strike.
The defense committee of cabinet (DCC) upheld the closure of the
Afghan border to NATO supply trucks, implemented earlier Saturday, and demanded
that the United States vacate a remote desert air base reportedly used as a hub
for covert CIA drone strikes on Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan.
"The DCC decided to close with immediate effect
the NATO/ISAF (NATO force in Afghanistan) logistics supply lines. The DCC also
decided to ask the U.S. to vacate the Shamsi air base within 15 days," said the
prime minister's office.
"The DCC decided that the government will
revisit and undertake a complete review of all programs, activities and
cooperative arrangements with U.S./NATO/ISAF, including diplomatic, political,
military and intelligence."
In June, Pakistan also told the United States to leave Shamsi, as
Islamabad sought to limit U.S. activities after a clandestine American raid
killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 near the capital Islamabad.
The U.S. embassy, which was not immediately reachable for comment on
Saturday, has previously said there were no U.S. military personnel at
Shamsi.
The Shamsi air base has been the source of CIA drone strikes across
Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Antiwar The Guardian on December 11, 2009, quoted an unnamed ex U.S. official
as saying that Blackwater was operating at a secret CIA air base, Shamsi Air
Base in Baluchistan which is a key element in the CIA coordinated missile
strikes. Guardian The airstrip is 560 miles (900 km) southwest of the capital Islamabad
in Baluchistan province. AFP Washington has not publicly acknowledged operations at the base, but
images said to be of U.S. Predator drones at Shamsi have been published by
Google Earth in the past. AFP According to Pakistani sources, U.S. drone strikes kill some 50
civilians for every militant killed, a hit rate of 2 percent. NYT
HJ/DB
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