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United States to Sell F-16 Combat Aircraft to Pakistan
Ending a 15-year ban, the Bush administration announced Friday that it would resume sales of F-16 combat aircraft to Pakistan, the Washington Post reported. The announcement followed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to India and Pakistan earlier this month (see GSN, March 15). After Pakistani nuclear weapon advances, the first Bush administration in 1990 refused to certify that Pakistan was weapon-free, thereby bringing down a congressionally mandated curtain on arms sales to Islamabad. The move interrupted a sale of F-16s, leaving 28 of the nuclear-capable aircraft parked in the United States even though Pakistan had paid for them. Eventually, the Clinton administration agreed to repay much of the money in 1998, and nuclear proliferation sanctions against Pakistan were lifted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2001). Friday’s decision, which also included an agreement to allow India to purchase fighter aircraft, was a pragmatic move that reflected contemporary realities, said some analysts. “This gives us leverage over [Pakistani President Gen. Pervez] Musharraf,” said Stephen Cohen, a Brookings Institution expert on South Asia. Pakistan has “nuclear weapons, it’s in a critical part of the world, and we can’t afford to let it go down the drain,” he added. “In the post-9/11 world, everything has changed,” said Lanny Davis, the former counsel to President Bill Clinton who brokered the new deal. “The notion that we shouldn’t give Pakistan military parity with India … makes no sense anymore given everything Pakistan has done for us.” India criticized the U.S. decision. “We’re greatly disappointed to hear the news,” said embassy spokesman Gautum Bambawale in Washington. “This is probably going to have negative consequences for Indian security and the security environment.” Former Senator Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who authored the original legislation banning weapon sales to Pakistan, also lambasted the move. “This is just a disastrous thing,” said Pressler, who now serves on the board of an Indian technology company. “It raises Pakistan, a country that doesn’t stand for anything we stand for, to the level of India.” “It gives Pakistan a delivery vehicle for its nuclear weapons,” he added (Peter Baker, Washington Post, March 26).
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