U.S. Vacates Air Base in Pakistan: Officials

QUETTA, Pakistan - The United States vacated a Pakistani airbase following a deadline given by Islamabad in the wake of anger over NATO air strikes last month that killed 24 soldiers, officials said Dec. 11.

A U.S. AIR Force plane carrying U.S. personnel and equipment prepare to take off from Pakistan's Shamsi airbase on Dec. 11. (Inter Services Public Relations via AFP)

Pakistan's military said in a statement that the last flight carrying U.S. personnel and equipment had left Shamsi airbase, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, completing a process that began last week.

Islamabad's fragile alliance with the United States crashed to new lows in the wake of the Nov. 26 NATO air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and which the Pakistan military called a deliberate attack.

The base was widely believed to have been used in covert CIA drone attacks against the Taliban and al-Qaida commanders in northwest Pakistan's tribal areas, which border Afghanistan.

"The control of the base has been taken over by the Army," the statement said.

A senior security official requesting anonymity earlier told AFP: "The Americans have vacated the Shamsi air base and it has been handed over to the Pakistani security forces."

Another official in Baluchistan confirmed that the last batch of U.S. officials left in two flights on Dec. 11.

Following the November air strikes, Pakistan closed two border crossings to Afghanistan to U.S. and NATO supplies and gave American personnel until Dec. 11 to leave Shamsi airbase.

U.S. Ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter told a Pakistan television channel last week: "We are complying with the request."

A security official said the U.S. aircraft left the Pakistani airfield around 3:00 pm with the remaining group of 32 U.S. officials and material.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Dec. 4 expressed condolences to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari for the soldier deaths and said the NATO airstrikes that killed them were not a "deliberate attack."

But the incident has rocked Washington's alliance with its counter terrorism ally Islamabad, though officials say neither country can afford a complete break in relations.

U.S. officials and intelligence analysts have said the covert drone war would not be affected by the closure of the base as Washington could fly Predator and Reaper drones out of air fields in neighboring Afghanistan. But the Shamsi air base was supposed to be particularly useful for flights hampered by poor weather conditions.

Islamabad has tacitly consented to the covert U.S. drone campaign, which many Pakistanis see as a violation of their country's sovereignty.

Nearly half of all cargo bound for NATO-led forces runs through Pakistan. Roughly 140,000 foreign troops, including about 97,000 Americans, rely on supplies from outside Afghanistan for the decade-long war effort.

Pakistan has shut off the border over previous incidents, partly to allay popular outrage, but the latest closure had entered a third week.

Islamabad has so far refused to take part in a U.S. investigation into the deadly November air strikes, and decided to boycott the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan earlier this month.

Berlin to Start Afghan Troop Pull-Out in Februaryger

BERLIN - Germany, which has over 5,000 troops in Afghanistan, will withdraw 200 soldiers at the start of February, a German weekly reported Dec. 11.

Germany plans to whittle its forces in Afghanistan to 4,900 next year against 5,350 at present. The NATO-led forces are due to be pulled out in 2014.

Berlin is drawing up its withdrawal plans, which will start on Feb. 1 and involve 200 troops, Bild am Sonntag said, without naming any sources.

Germany, which has the third-biggest force in Afghanistan behind the United States and Britain, said at the start of the year that it aimed to begin pulling its military forces out, eyeing 2014 for complete withdrawal.

Polls have shown the mission, the first major Bundeswehr deployment outside of Europe since World War II, has been consistently unpopular in the country.

5,000 Surface-to-Air Missiles Secured in Libya

SIDI BIN NUR, Libya - A top U.S. official said Dec. 11 that a team of U.S. and Libyan bomb-disposal specialists has secured about 5,000 surface-to-air missiles stockpiled during the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.

"We have identified, disbanded and secured more than 5,000 MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems), while thousands more have been destroyed during NATO bombing," Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs told a group of reporters.

Dozens of these missiles were detonated in the sea, off the coast of Sidi Bin Nur village, east of Tripoli, as Shapiro, one a one-day visit to Libya, witnessed the event from the shore.

A joint U.S. and Libyan team of bomb-disposal experts has been working for several months now to find these missing missiles which are seen as potential threat to civil aviation. Gadhafi had a stockpile of 20,000 shoulder-fired missiles before the revolt against him broke out in February.

"We are working side by side with the TNC to reduce the threat of these loose weapons," Shapiro said after talks in Tripoli with officials from the ruling National Transitional Council, the interior and defense ministries.

There is a "serious concern about the threat posed by MANPADS ... about the potential threat MANPADS can pose to civil aviation. However our efforts witht he NTC to reduce these threats are already paying off."

Shapiro said contractors on the ground were still in the process of assessing how many missiles are still missing. Libya, under Gadhafi, was reportedly the country with the biggest stock of MANPADS outside of nations that produce these weapons.

The missiles, mainlySAM-7, were acquired in the 1970s and 1980s.

Shapiro said the United States has already spent $6 million in its efforts to secure these weapons.

NATO Denies Iraq Report of Withdrawal: Official

BRUSSELS - NATO denied an assertion by Iraq's national security advisor on Dec. 11 that it had decided to withdraw its mission there at the end of the year after Baghdad refused to grant it legal immunity.

"There hasn't been a decision yet," an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels said, while acknowledging that the question of the mission's legal standing was an issue.

"When they ask us to extend the mission, we need to see that the same legal framework will extend as well," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We remain hopeful that a solution will be found and that we'll be able to say yes to the Iraqi request to extend our mission, based on the legal framework that we (have) had since 2009," the official added.

The official was responding to remarks earlier on Dec. 11 by Iraq's National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh who said the decision had already been taken, because Baghdad had refused to grant the force legal immunity.

The failure to agree on immunity from prosecution closely mirrors Iraq's refusal to grant U.S. soldiers similar protections earlier this year.

That sank a potential deal between the two countries to keep U.S. soldiers in the country beyond the end of the year.

Pakistan upgrades air defence system near Afghan border

Pakistan has upgraded its air defence system on the Afghan border to make it capable of shooting down aircraft, after Nato strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, a security official told AFP on Friday.

“Now we have a fully equipped air defence system on the Afghan border. It has the capability to trace and detect any aircraft,” the official in the northwestern city of Peshawar told AFP by telephone.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the step had been taken to avert air incursions from Afghanistan and to respond to any future air strikes.
“The system has also been upgraded to immediately respond after detecting any aircraft or helicopter and to shoot it down,” he added.
Pakistan shut its border to Nato supply convoys on November 26, the same day as the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.
The government also ordered the United States to leave the Shamsi air base in the southwest, widely reported as a hub in the covert CIA drone war against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan.

Lockheed: Pentagon Order for F-35s Undefinitized

Lockheed Martin has signed an undefinitized contract that establishes a price ceiling for the fifth low rate production lot for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, company officials clarified late on Dec. 10.

THE PENTAGON AWARDED Lockheed Martin an undefinitized contract to produce 30 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. (Lockheed Martin)

The Pentagon announced earlier on Dec. 10 that it had awarded Lockheed Martin a $4 billion contract to build 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

"Lockheed Martin has signed an undefinitized contract that establishes the funding for Lot 5 up to the level announced by the DoD today," said Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Laurie Quincy in an email. "The final Lot 5 contract amount will not be known until we have a definitized contract sometime in 2012."

She said in a statement that the award is welcome news for the company and its F-35 suppliers.

"This … will help ensure we continue to meet production schedules outlined by the program," Quincy wrote. "This is an important first step in paving the way for full LRIP 5 production contract negotiations with our government customer."

The fixed-price-incentive contract calls for 21 F-35A conventional take off and landing (CTOL) for the Air Force, three F-35B short-take off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the Marines, and six F-35C carrier variants for the Navy.

Broken down by service, two-thirds of the value of the contract - $2.65 billion - is for the Air Force; $937 million, or 23 percent, for the Navy; and $426 million, or nearly 11 percent, for the Marine Corps.

The contract also provides for "associated ancillary mission equipment and flight test instrumentation" for the planes, and flight test instrumentation for the United Kingdom.

The contract was awarded through the Naval Air Systems Command.

Iran's Boasts Over Drone Reveal Inconsistencies

TEHRAN - Iran's boast it downed a highly sophisticated U.S. drone has handed the Islamic republic a propaganda coup while revealing numerous inconsistencies in both Iranian and U.S. accounts of the incident.

A STILL IMAGE taken from the Iranian state-run Press TV shows what Iranian officials claim is the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone that crashed in Iran on Dec. 4. (Ho / Press TV via AFP)

Leading Iranian newspapers on Dec. 10 gave front-page prominence to the story, displaying photos of what was said to be the remarkably intact RQ-170 Sentinel drone in Iran's possession.

One daily, Vatanemrooz, bragged that "Satan's eye has been gouged out," repeating the characterisation of the United States as the "Great Satan."

The ebullient media coverage, which began on Dec. 8 with state television images of the alleged drone, eclipsed other reports, including on the threat of more sanctions on Iran and the fallout from last month's storming of the British embassy in Tehran.

The deputy chief of Iran's armed forces, Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as warning that "the U.S. government will have to pay a high price for its unacceptable actions."

He added: "Our defensive actions will not be limited to our geographical borders."

Iran has sent a letter of protest to the United Nations, saying the drone's flight was part of months of "covert actions by the American government" against it.

It also summoned the Swiss ambassador, who handles U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of U.S.-Iran diplomatic relations, and the Afghan ambassador to lodge formal protests and demand explanations.

A letter given to the Afghan ambassador said that Iran's airspace had been violated from his country and stressed "Afghanistan's responsibilities as a good neighbor," IRNA reported.

Information given by Iranian and U.S. officials in their respective countries' media since Tehran announced Dec. 4 it had captured the drone has raised several inconsistencies over the affair.

The Iranian military's joint chiefs of staff initially said its air defenses managed to "shoot down" the drone as it "briefly violated" Iran's eastern airspace.

Yet Mohammad Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said in his letter of protest that the drone flew "deep inside" Iran, close to the eastern desert town of Tabas, according to Iranian media.

"After reaching the northern part of Tabas area - 150 miles deep inside Iranian territory - the aircraft was confronted by the timely response of the Islamic republic's armed forces," his letter read.

And Iranian military officials were now saying the drone - displaying little damage in state media images - had not been shot down as first asserted, but rather had its controls hacked by a Revolutionary Guards cyber warfare unit.

U.S. officials have also added to some of the mystery surrounding the incident.

Although none has spoken on the record, several told U.S. media anonymously the drone had been on a CIA mission over Iran - and not on a U.S. military flight over western Afghanistan, as the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force initially tried to suggest.

The officials were skeptical of Iran's claims that it had broken through encryption technology to seize control of the aircraft, hypothesizing that the drone suffered a malfunction.

But none was able to explain how the drone - programmed to either automatically return to its base in Afghanistan or possibly even self-destruct - was recovered by the Iranians.