US looking to shift funds for Pakistani F-16s

Washington - The United States wants to shift about 226 million dollars in aide for Pakistani counterterrorism effort to upgrade the country's fleet of F-16s. The money was originally allocated for counterterrorism activities in the lawless tribal regions of the country near the Afghan border, where the Taliban and al-Qaeda have sought refuge. But Pakistan has undergone economic turmoil and rising fuel prices and requested assistance for its US-built F-16s, State Department acting deputy spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said Thursday. 'The (Pakistani) government came to us, asked us if we could assist them. And we decided that this would be a good option for them,' Gallegos said. But some members of Congress have protested the move, citing US frustrations about Pakistan's lagging response in combating the Taliban and raising questions about how sophisticated upgrades to the fighter planes would help the war on terrorism. 'Congress provided these funds specifically for counterterrorism and law enforcement activities,' said Representative Nita Lowey, a Democrat who chairs the House budget committee's subpanel on foreign operations. 'It is incumbent on the State Department and Pakistan to demonstrate clearly how these F-16s would be used to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban in order to get Congressional support,' she said. Gallegos said the advanced avionics and communication upgrades will improve coordination with ground units hunting the Taliban and al-Qaeda and facilitate precision airstrikes. The New York Times first reported the policy on Thursday, ahead of President George W Bush's meeting Monday with Pakistan's recently elected prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani.

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LeoneJul 24th, 2008 - 21:21:38

I think contact@silverhotel.ro thats amazing...

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not_bobJul 24th, 2008 - 21:39:22

of course the US wants to spends china's loaned dollars to reinforce the support for an unpopular American puppet that runs pakistan and doesnt do what we need.

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Just thinking...Jul 24th, 2008 - 22:10:33

Why pay to upgrade their F-16s when we could just go in there with our F-16s and do the same job?

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SamJul 24th, 2008 - 22:18:25

Never give your future enemy a better weapon.

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bubbaJul 24th, 2008 - 22:32:03

Sam!...dont be so sure about 'Never give your future enemy a better weapon.'...Iran has 'F-14 Tomcats collecting sand in the Desert' and Pakistan is no threat at all...a muslim flying any jet can be shot down by a little boy with a BB-Gun on the Ground.

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SP4: a crap sandwichJul 24th, 2008 - 23:34:24

...and we get to all take a bite....this seems to be what we are good at...

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