Pakistan denies report it struck deal with US on Afghanistan operations

Pakistan has denied it struck a deal to allow the US to use its airspace for military and intelligence operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

The rebuttal on Saturday came hours after a media report claimed that the two countries are “nearing a formalised agreement” to give Washington access to Pakistan’s airspace for operations in Afghanistan.

“No such understanding is in place,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement on Saturday.

“Pakistan and the US have longstanding cooperation on regional security and counterterrorism and the two sides remain engaged in regular consultations.”

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According to the same media report, the US is currently using Pakistan’s airspace for “ongoing intelligence-gathering efforts” in Afghanistan, “but there is no formal agreement in place to ensure continued access to a critical piece of airspace necessary for the US to reach Afghanistan.”

Critical access

Pakistan’s airspace will become even more critical for the US if and when it decides to fly out Americans and other people from Afghanistan in the future, the report added.

Islamabad, for its part, has time and again reiterated that it will not allow Washington to carry out counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan from Pakistani territory, following the US pullout and Taliban’s rise to power.

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“Absolutely not. There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not,” Prime Minister Imran Khan said in an interview in June this year, ahead of the withdrawal of US and NATO troops.