Pakistan activates satellite air bases near Afghan and India borders

Indian agencies are continuously monitoring Pakistani activities

Afghanistan
FILE PIC: Families who arrived from Afghanistan at their makeshift tents near a railway station in Chaman, Pakistan | Photo: Reuters
Agencies
2 min read Last Updated : Sep 07 2021 | 2:00 AM IST
At a time when Pakistani intelligence agencies can be seen openly meddling in Afghan affairs, the Pakistan Air Force has activated an air base on its eastern front in Balochistan area close to Afghanistan.

According to news agency ANI, two other satellite bases named Kotli and Rawalkot have also been activated along the border with India, intelligence sources said.The sources said the Pakistan Air Force has 12 active and an equal number of satellite bases for operations.

"The Pakistan Air Force keeps activating these bases from time to time for operational readiness and the frequency has increased after the Balakot air strike by India in February 2019 where the Indian Mirage 2000 fighters could manage to get in and out of Pakistan territory undetected and unchallenged,” said a news report by ANI quoting sources.

According to the report, sources said the Indian agencies are continuously monitoring Pakistani activities as all its bases are effectively covered by Indian radars and other systems round the clock.


Agencies are also keeping a track of the Pakistan Air Force activities on their eastern front where the Shamsi air field in Pakistan has been reactivated to support Taliban operations in the war-torn country, the sources said.

Six aircraft stuck in Afghan airport

About 1,000 people, including Americans, have been stuck in Afghanistan for days awaiting clearance for their charter flights to leave, an organiser told Reuters, blaming the delay on the US State Department.

The confusion was the latest flashpoint following a chaotic US military withdrawal completed after Taliban Islamist insurgents seized power in Kabul on Aug. 15, after the Western-backed government collapsed. Earlier on Sunday, the senior Republican on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCaul, told "Fox News Sunday" that six airplanes were stuck at Mazar-i-Sharif airport with Americans and Afghan interpreters aboard, unable to take off as they had not received Taliban clearance.

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Topics :TalibanAfghanistanKabulPakistan Pakistan Air ForceBalochistan

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