F-16 Deal With Pak Will Affect Some Aspects of Indo-US Ties

By siliconindia | Thursday, 25 February 2016, 11:38 Hrs

WASHINGTON: The United States' decision to sell eight nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan would affect "some aspects" of Indo-US relationship, a top American military commander has said, amid India's strong protest over the deal.

"With regard to the sale of F-16s to Pakistan, while I don't have a professional opinion on that sale itself, certainly it will affect some aspects of our relationship with India," the US Pacific Command (PACOM) Commander, Admiral Harry Harris, told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing yesterday.

Harris, who will visit India next week, was responding to question from members of the House Armed Services Committee.

"I know that I will be asked about it when I go to India, and I hope to be able to tell them that that sale is just one aspect of many military sales that we make across the world, and that we view our relationship with India very importantly," Harris said.

"I hope that we can work through this sale, and their perception of it, to continue to improve our relationship with India," Admiral Harris said, responding to a question on F-16 from Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard, the first ever Hindu Congresswoman elected to the US House of Representatives, expressed serious concern over the Obama Administration's decision to sell the fighter jets to Pakistan.

"There's a potential sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan that I and other members of Congress have expressed very serious concerns about, given the fact that Pakistan has long harboured and given safe haven to various terrorist groups that continue to launch destabilising attacks within India, as well as Afghanistan," she said.