UAE built Shamsi Airbase

Pakistan

UAE built Shamsi Airbase

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The base had originally been built by the Arabs for falconry trips.

11 December,2011 08:26 pm

Shamsi Airbase is an airfield situated about 320 km southwest of Quetta and about 400 km northwest of Gwadar in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The airfield is located in District Washuk and nestled in a barren desert valley between two ridges of the Central Makran Range approximately 35 km southeast of the village of Washuk.Shamsi airbase was leased by the Government of Pakistan to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1992 for hunting purposes and, between 20 October 2001 and 11 December 2011, it was leased to the United States for use as a base for joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and United States Air Force (USAF) surveillance and drone attacks against militants in Pakistans Federally Administered Tribal Areas.The United States was ordered to vacate the airfield by the Pakistani Government on 26 November 2011 after the Salala Incident in which US-led NATO forces attacked two Pakistani border check posts in Pakistans Federally Administered Tribal Areas killing 24 Pakistan Army soldiers. The United States vacated the airfield on 11 December 2011.