U.S. eviction from Pakistan base a bad omen

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's demand that all U.S. personnel and aircraft immediately vacate an airbase in the south of the country, and the United States' reluctance to meet that demand, is turning into a dispute which could linger as yet another irritant in the relationship between the two nations - which is already being tested to a worrying degree - according to Western defense officials in Islamabad.

That relationship began to descend rapidly on May 2, when a team of U.S. Navy SEALs stormed a compound in the northern Pakistani city of Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden, without telling anyone in the Pakistani government they were going to do it.

On Wednesday, defense chief Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar said Pakistan had told the U.S. to leave the Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan province. Though never acknowledged publicly, the base is widely believed to be used as a storage and launch site for some of the unmanned drone aircraft the CIA use to target militant suspects in the "surgical" strikes relied on so heavily by the Obama administration.

In spite of the definitive tone of Mukhtar's remarks, two Western officials tell CBS News the matter may drag on.

"I doubt if the Americans will say, right, there is a note from Pakistan and we have to vacate this base immediately," said one of the two officials who both spoke to CBS on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the matter. The source closely tracks U.S.-Pakistan relations, and added that, "hardliners in the U.S. will probably refuse to accept Pakistan's demand immediately."

The official agreed with that assessment, noting the U.S. government enjoys "a great deal of clout in Pakistan. They are not going to simply accept an order from the defense minister and move out."

U.S. officials have largely refused to comment on the demand to vacate Shamsi, but there's been no indication American hardware - which Americans didn't know was in Pakistan to begin with - is being removed.