Last week, the Obama administration approved the sale of six Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Pakistan including high-end radar equipment and training. A rubbish statement was put out by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency which said, “This proposed sale contributes to U.S. foreign policy objectives and national security goals by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner in South Asia, the proposed sale improves Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future security threats. These additional F-16 aircrafts will facilitate operations in all-weather, non-daylight environments, provide a self-defense/area suppression capability and enhance Pakistan’s ability to conduct counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations.”
I have repeatedly pointed out Pakistan’s blasphemy in the region, and joining me this time are U.S. lawmakers who point out that in the past Pakistan has not given two hoots to the conditions that the U.S. Congress had placed in return of such assistance.
In a letter to President Obama, Matt Salmon, Chairman of the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote, “As several other Members of Congress and numerous independent experts have argued, providing such a significant upgrade to Pakistan’s offensive military capabilities is extremely problematic in light of the Pakistani military’s widely alleged complicity in terrorist violence, as well as the potential for the Pakistani military to use these F-16s to deliver nuclear weapons in conflict scenario with India. I strongly urge the Administration to reconsider the sale.”
In a joint letter to Secretary Kerry, Ted Poe (R) and Tulsi Gabbard (D) wrote, “Given that the United States has already supplied Pakistan with over $30 billion in foreign assistance from FY2002-FY2016 and Pakistan still has not changed its behavior in any significant way, it is unconvincing that giving Pakistan more taxpayer dollars to finance the purchase of F-16s will somehow break that trend. Pakistan has the ability to become an integral partner in the international community and be part of the solution on ending terrorism and the instability that plagues the region. Until that time comes, however, we urge you not to use taxpayer money to finance the sale of F-16s to Pakistan. On Feb. 3, Hafiz Saeed, one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in which six US citizens were killed, called for additional attacks against India. Despite being designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, a $10 million bounty on his head by the US government and pleas from India to rein in Saeed, he remains free,” the letter said.
The Obama administration has been a hypocrite in dealing with Pakistan and terrorism, a country that is notorious to breed and raise terror outfits like the Haqqani network, the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Jamaat-ud-Dawah who are responsible for the killings of over 2,300 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. If Pakistan keeps targeting our men in Afghanistan it keeps the region burning, which keeps the flow of checks from Washington. The narrative in Islamabad is: “No U.S. presence in Afghanistan, no military aid to Pakistan.”
Jallaudin Haqqani, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim and hundreds more who are perpetrators of various terrorist activities are considered state guests in various parts of Pakistan, they live a comfortable life in the country. It is also believed that Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander has fathered a child from a high-security prison he is locked up in. Law and order in this country are a hoax if you work in the government’s interest.
If you look at it, Pakistan has played a masterstroke; use U.S. dollars and military equipment to kill U.S. troops in the Afghan valley, the very recent being in December 2015 where six NATO American soldiers lost their lives. Obama’s chief counterterrorism advisor John O. Brennan has said in the past, “It is inconceivable that Bin Laden did not have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time.”
The old rhetoric by Pakistan that their nuclear facilities are in danger in return of a big fat check from the U.S. tax payer’s money must stop. Pakistan must first have a uniform policy against terror, do not term terrorists as good or bad. All terrorist activities on their land must be suspended and de-legalized. Do not eulogize terrorists by calling them freedom fighters. Pakistan is capable of ending home-grown terrorism but it will not because it suits their interests.
Now, with the state of the art modern military machinery from the U.S. and $30 billion dollars in the bank account- why would it? There are times when you completely disagree with the president and times when you agree, foreign policy decisions like these worry me because there is no premise, no proper justification and no rationale behind offering military jets to Pakistan.
