U.S. flag lowered at Pakistani airbase

American flag was lowered at a Pakistani airbase on Sunday as the U.S. military personnel had been asked to vacate the facility by December 11, local media reported.

Pakistan had asked the U.S. to vacate Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province following NATO fighter jets and helicopters bombed two border posts on November 26 and killed 24 soldiers.

The U.S. had reportedly been using the airbase since late 2001 for military operations in Afghanistan and for drone strikes in Pakistan tribal regions.

Pakistani security forces entered the airfield Sunday morning and hoisted the national flag as the last transport U.S. aircraft left with remaining personnel and equipment, Geo television reported while quoting its own sources.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said last week that the United States has been asked to vacate the airbase by December 11.

Local TV channels reported that the U.S. shifted all its personnel in 9 planes and equipment in nearly 20 transport planes. The personnel, drone aircraft, weapons and other equipment have been shifted to Afghanistan, the reports said.

U.S. officials recently said that they have a backup plan in Afghanistan if the Shamsi airstrip is closed down.

Geo TV reported that senior officials from the Defence Ministry and Civil Aviation were at the airbase at the time of the vacation.Soldiers from the Frontier Corps took control of the airbase late Saturday evening as most of the American personnel had already left the airfield and one U.S. cargo plane had been at the airbase for transferring the remaining personnel and equipment.

The U.S. officials dismantled fiber-made residential barracks which had been built for military personnel, local TV channels had earlier reported.

A Pakistani military official in Balochistan recently said that the U.S. officials at the airbase had also burnt some equipment, which he said is a routine practice as they were not required to be taken out of the facility.

Pakistan's Air Chief, Air Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman told the parliament in a special briefing in May after Osama bin Laden was killed by the U.S. military that the Shamsi airbase had been under the control of UAE.

Pakistan media then reported that the UAE had allowed the U.S. to use it for spy aircraft operation in Pakistani tribal regions. When the facility had been given to the UAE, only small aircraft could land at the airbase.

Sources said that top Pakistani leadership will decide whether or not to hand over the Shamsi airbase to the United Arab Emirates after a complete U.S. evacuation. The UAE had been using the airstrip for small aircraft of its leaders when they used to come to Pakistan for hunting. The U.S. had extended the runway to enable big aircraft to land.