US notifies sale of F-16s to Pakistan, lawmakers object

Why should the US consider selling major defence items to Pakistan whose allegiance to the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network is wellknown? It is past time to stand up and demand greater accountability from Pakistan. RAND PAUL, US Republican Senator

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration has notified the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, ignoring stiff opposition from several US Republican and Democratic lawmakers and India.

The sale, at an estimated value of $699.04 million, was published in the Federal Register, a government gazette, on Friday at the end of the formal process of notifying Congress.

The notification said Pakistan needs these F-16s to meet “current and future security needs” and enhance its “ability to conduct counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations”.

India has expressed “displeasure” over the sale and said it disagrees with the US government’s “rationale that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism”.

Pakistan’s foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz, who is in the US, told reporters that the F-16s are “a very critical part of our counter-terrorism operation”.

The deal is not technically through entirely, sources stated. This notification is only about the administration’s proposal to sell the eight combat jets.

Rand Paul, a Republican senator who has moved a joint resolution opposing the sale, wrote in an appeal to colleagues, “Selling military hardware to Pakistan — with a generous subsidy from American taxpayers — is no way to convince them to become responsible players in the international community and assist in the fight against terrorism.”

Paul is seeking a vote on the

Senate foreign relations committee chairman Bob Corker, a Republican, and his deputy Ben Cardin, a Democrat, had told the administration they have put a hold on the funding.

“I do not want US taxpayer dollars going to support these acquisitions,” Corker told The Wall Street Journal, calling Pakistan “duplicitous”.

The chairman and ranking member of the House foreign relations committee — Ed Royce and Eliot Engel — have also announced their intention to put a hold.

Sources said there are three ways for the sale to go forward now. One, Pakistan is made to pay the entire sum of $699.04 million, as it has at least once before.

Two, the administration “blows through the hold” and goes ahead and funds the sale as it intends to do, creating some bad blood with lawmakers as a consequence.

Three, try and convince lawmakers to change their mind and why they must agree to allow the administration to fund the sale despite