Dr S Jaishankar, the Union Minister of External Affairs, questioned the “merits” of the US-Pakistan alliance, asserting that Washington’s ties with Islamabad had not served either of the two countries. Jaishankar criticised the Biden administration’s plan to provide 450 million dollars in spares and maintenance for Pakistan’s F-16s, asserting that claims that these highly proficient fighter aircraft are exclusively for counter-terrorism operations are nonrational and delusional.
At a gathering organised by the Indian American community in Washington on Sunday, Foreign Minister Jaishankar said, “It’s a relationship that has neither ended up serving Pakistan well nor serving the American interests. It’s really for the United States today to reflect on the merits of this relationship and what they get by it,” Jaishankar said.
“For someone to say I am doing this because it is all counter-terrorism content and so when you are talking of an aircraft like a capability of an F-16 where everybody knows, you know where they are deployed and their use. You are not fooling anybody by saying these things,” Jaishankar noted.
The statements follow after Jaishankar was questioned by the audience on the United States’ decision to sell F-16 combat planes to Pakistan. The Pakistani government has received a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) from the US State Department for the first time since 2018 in the amount of USD 450 million to maintain the F-16 aircraft and its individual parts.
Rajnath Singh, the Indian Defence Minister, immediately voiced India’s reservations to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Washington’s proposal to provide a maintenance package for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet.
Jaishankar’s four-day visit to Washington, DC, started with an unprecedented public interaction with the Indian American community, a Q&A session in which he took direct questions from the audience and his every response was met with multiple rounds of applause.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar wrapped off the high-level discussion about the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday and will spend the following three days in Washington. The foreign minister will meet with Anthony Blinken, secretary of state for the United States, and other senior members of the Biden administration.
