Pak Foreign Office refrains response on issue of airspace to US

At the weekly media briefing of the Foreign Office on Thursday, the FO spokesman refrained from giving a detailed response on the issue of airspace to the US.

To a query about the status of the existing understanding with the US i.e. Air Lines of Communications (ALOCS) and Ground Lines of Communications (GLOCS), last updated in 2008, the spokesman said, "You would also appreciate that there is a new situation on the ground in Afghanistan, that means a different context in which things have to be seen", reported The News International.

Earlier in October, Pakistan had rejected reports about an agreement with the United States on the use of its airspace for intelligence operations in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement in response to media queries regarding the news report alluding to the formalisation of an agreement between the two countries to conduct military and intelligence operations against Afghanistan. The FO statement read: "No such understanding was in place."

The spokesperson, however, stressed that Pakistan and the US had "longstanding cooperation" on issues of regional security and counter-terrorism and "the two sides remain engaged in regular consultations".

In June in an interview with Axios, Prime Minister Imran Khan had categorically said that Pakistan would "absolutely not" allow any bases and use of its territory to the US for any sort of action inside Afghanistan.

( With inputs from ANI )

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