To improve its relations with the United States, Pakistan has allowed US warplanes to use its airspace to support forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The shocking claim was made by the Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post, which said that after the renewal of the 20-year-old agreement, US warplanes had flown at least once in the first week of May in the Afghan province of Helmand. I have bombed the Taliban. Many Pakistani journalists have also spoken about this on social media. Pakistani journalists say the US Air Force has been allowed to use Pakistan's airspace at a time when the United States has requested re-access to the solar air base. The airbase is located 400 km northwest of the Chinese-run port of Gwadar.
It may be recalled that former dictator Pervez Musharraf had allowed the United States to use the solar air base as well as the Jacobabad base in 2002.
The newspaper, citing two senior sources based in Islamabad, claimed that Washington officials had sought permission to use the solar air base in March when they met with Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The United States also requested bases from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan during the same period to keep an eye on Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops on September 11, but both countries rejected the US request.
