By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Daunting tasks await younger Sharif’s government including the USA pressure on Pakistan to do more against alleged terrorist groups and militants.
Biden administration has recently announced sale of military hardware to Pakistan and expected it would help maintain its fleet of F-16. Even India’s concerns regarding the deal , couldn’t stop the Biden admimistration from going ahead with the multi million dollars deal.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday that Washington expected Islamabad to take “sustained action” against all terrorist groups and that a recently proposed $450 million military sale package for the maintenance of Pakistan’s F-16 fleet would help serve this purpose, according to dawn.
“Pakistan’s F-16 programme, it’s an important part of the broader US-Pakistan bilateral relationship, and this proposed sale will sustain Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats by maintaining the F-16 fleet,” Dawn quoted Price as saying during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“This is a fleet that allows Pakistan to support counterterrorism operations, and we expect Pakistan will take sustained action against all terrorist groups,” he added.
Price made these remarks when asked to share some details about the proposed package, about which the US government has already notified Congress.
Reiterating that the Congress had been notified of the proposed sale, Price said: “Pakistan is an important partner in a number of regards, an important counterterrorism partner.“And as part of our longstanding policy, we provide life cycle maintenance and sustainment packages for US-origin platforms.”On Wednesday last week, an official statement by the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification of this possible sale to Congress.The agency clarified that “the proposed sale does not include any new capabilities, weapons, or munitions”.
During official meetings with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu in Delhi last week, India raised “strong objections” to the U.S. plan for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) worth $450 million for hardware, software, and spares for the F-16 fighter jet programme with Pakistan.
Indian media reports had suggested that officials protested the decision at “each and every” bilateral meeting Mr. Lu and his delegation had during their visit for the Quad Senior Officials Meeting (SOM).In particular, the Indian side cited concerns about the technology and support being made available to Pakistan for the F-16s, which Pakistan claims are needed for “counter-terrorism operations”, and the government conveyed that it believes they are used for operations against India.