Shamsi Airfield

Shamsi Airfield, also known as Bhandari Airstrip, is an airfield situated about 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Quetta and about 248 miles (400 km) northwest of Gwadar in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The airfield is located in Washuk District and nestled in a barren desert valley between two ridges of the Central Makran Range approximately 21 miles (35 km) southeast of the village of Washuk.

Shrouded in secrecy, Shamsi was leased by Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates in 1992 for game 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 operations (particularly those involving Predator drones) against militants in Pakistan's 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 checkposts in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas killing 24 Pakistan Army soldiers. The United States vacated the airfield on 11 December 2011.