The State Department has rejected a report by US broadcaster CNN, which claimed that an agreement was to be reached between Pakistan and the United States on drone strikes in Afghanistan, using the airspace of Washington and Islamabad.
In this regard, the Foreign Office issued an explanatory statement that there was "no such agreement" between the United States and Pakistan.
The CCN report claimed that "three sources familiar with the sensitive briefing to the US Congress said that the Biden administration had informed US lawmakers that an agreement between Washington and Pakistan would be reached soon." Under which Pakistani airspace will be used for military operations in Afghanistan.
The report claimed that Pakistan had also "expressed a desire" to sign the agreement in return for US assistance in the context of counter-terrorism operations and relations with India.
The CNN report quoted sources as saying that the terms of the agreement are still being negotiated and may change.
The State Department issued a statement following the CNN report.
A Foreign Office spokesman said on the agreement on the use of Pakistani airspace for US drone strikes in Afghanistan that "no such agreement is under consideration".
The Foreign Office spokesman stressed that Pakistan and the United States have a "long history of bilateral relations" related to counter-terrorism and security in the region.
He said the two countries would continue talks on other issues in the traditional manner.
Pakistan will not allow US to use its bases
It may be recalled that on June 19, Prime Minister Imran Khan had clearly stated that Pakistan would not allow the United States to use any of its bases and territory for any operation inside Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister had said in an interview on HBO that "by no means, in any case we have used our bases and we will not allow any operation in Afghanistan from Pakistani borders".
Jonathan Swan, who was interviewed in an interview trailer aired on HBO Axios' website on Sunday, asked, "Do you allow the US government to have a CIA presence in Pakistan so that it can fight al Qaeda?" Run counter-terrorism missions like ISIS or Taliban? '
The Prime Minister replied, "Absolutely not." Surprised by his clear response, the interviewer asked the Prime Minister to confirm his response, "Really?"
In addition, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while rejecting reports regarding the provision of military bases to the United States, had made it clear that the government would not provide military bases to the United States under any circumstances, nor would it allow drone strikes in Pakistan.
His remarks came after the US President Joe Biden's administration acknowledged that it was in talks with several Central Asian countries to deploy troops to Afghanistan's neighborhood so that Afghan soil would no longer be a haven for terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.
