Pakistan air force looks to Russia, China after US withdraws arms purchase

The Pakistan Air Force is considering other options after Washington decided to withdraw financing for a US arms purchase.

“If funding is arranged, Pakistan will get the F16,” said Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister. “Otherwise, we will opt for jets from some other place.”

As reported by The Financial Times, Pakistan’s other options include the Russian SU35, the Chinese J10 and the Chinese J20 stealth fighter.

The US and Pakistan have long had close ties. They jointly supported the Taliban rebels, who drove Soviet invaders out of Afghanistan in 1989. But the 9/11 terror attacks, masterminded by al-Qaeda from Afghan soil, ushered in a more complex period in which US forces helped overthrow the Taliban regime. The US continues to fight the group’s militants while Pakistan gives them haven.

Washington is also upset by Pakistan’s support for other Islamist terror organisations, while President Barack Obama has said Islamabad is moving “in the wrong direction” by adopting battlefield atomic weapons that increase the risk of a nuclear conflict with India, according to The Financial Times.

Although the US has not cancelled the sale of the eight additional F16s for $700m, it has withdrawn the offer of US credit for the contract because members of Congress from both main parties are demanding what one called “behavioural changes” from Pakistan so that it stops supporting terrorism.

“Given congressional objections, we have told the Pakistanis that they should put forward national funds for that purpose,” the US State Department said.

Pakistan and the US have had frequent ups and downs. In 1990, Washington suspended sales of F16s on the grounds that Pakistan was producing nuclear weapons.

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