US asks Congress $250 mn for Pak F-16s

WASHINGTON: The Bush Administration on Tuesday urged a skeptical US Congress to release more than $ 250 million to arm Pakistan with upgraded F-16s fighter jets even as US and Pakistani forces stood eyeball-to-eyeball on the Afghan border in a confrontational posture. The incongruous spectacle of senior state department officials pleading for arming Pakistan amid fears of a shooting match between the two militaries came amid deep cynicism among lawmakers about the administration’s Pakistan policy and a mission to Islamabad by the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, to defuse the situation. Admiral Mullen rushed to Islamabad on Tuesday on an unscheduled visit (his fifth this year) after tensions ratcheted up last week following a US airborne assault inside Pakistan and stepped up bombing by US drone on targets inside Pakistan. The hurried visit followed an announcement by Islamabad it would meet any US incursions into its territory by force and a growing clamour in the country to cut off US military supplies to its forces in Afghanistan, most of which go through Pakistan. “Mullen was scheduled to meet Pakistan’s prime minister Yousuf Gilani and army chief Pervez Kiyani to continue the dialogue that they have been maintaining and to look for ways to work better and more closely together to eliminate the safe havens for extremists in the border region,'' a US military spokesman said. On the Hill, doubts ran deep at a Congressional hearing called to question the Bush administration policy of arming what most American analysts and commentators have begun to refer to as a dubious ally and terrorist haven that constitutes a threat to the United States. ''Let's be grown-up about this. Do you think the average Pakistani thinks the symbolism has something to do with fighting terrorism or confronting India?" New York Congressman Gary Ackerman, who called the hearing to specifically question funding for Pakistan’s F-16, asked. ''I think we are trying to build the confidence of an ally that is not so allied with us sometimes.'' Lawmakers also expressed concern about the comments of Pakistan army spokesman who said the military has ordered its forces to open fire if US troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border. Doubts were also expressed about the efficacy of F-16 fighter jets against terrorist elements that have frequently been described as scattered and living in caves. But a senior state department official maintained that the F-16s ''provide a critical counterterrorism capability to Pakistan'' and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has recently made extensive use of its ''aging'' F-16 fleet to support Pakistan Army operations in the Swat Valley and in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The official, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Donald Camp, told cited information furnished by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, to inform the skeptical committee that the PAF flew 93 sorties in August 2008 in operations against the Taliban. However, their current model F-16 can be used for close air support missions only in daylight and good visibility. They cannot be employed at night, a fact not lost on the Taliban and other extremist groups being targeted, Camp said, presenting the Pakistani position.
source : times of india