Pakistan is considering buying used F-16s from Jordan after a deal to buy new aircraft from the U.S. fell through, Pakistani media reported Tuesday. Pictured, A Jordanian F-16 in 2011. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Asha Kin
ISLAMABAD, June 14 (UPI) -- A planned $700 million U.S. sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan was canceled due in part to concerns over the continued presence of the Haqqani Network terrorist group on Pakistani soil, Pakistan's defense secretary told a senate panel.
Pakistan Today reports Defense Secretary retired Lt. Gen. Alam Khattak told Pakistan's senate committees on foreign affairs and defense, which had been tasked with assessing U.S.-Pakistan relations, that the Haqqani Network was the major reason the deal fell through.
With that avenue now closed, Pakistan's military will pursue the purchase of used F-16s from Jordan.
"We are now going for a third party transfer of F-16s and have an offer from Jordan," Khattak was quoted by Dawn as saying at the hearing.
The halting of U.S. funding for the foreign military sale by the U.S. Congress earlier this year has led Islamabad to reconsider its strategy of not deploying lobbyists in Washington, D.C., Dawn reported.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, told the senate committees Pakistan is expected to hire a few lobbying firms to help improve the country's image and relations with U.S. lawmakers.
Khattak said the used Block-30 F-16s offered by Jordan were not as good as the Block-52s that Pakistan originally intended to buy from the United States.
The Jordanian jets were manufactured in the late 1980s and upgraded in the early 2000s, but might have to be upgraded again to meet the Pakistan air force's standards, Dawn reported.
That purchase may take on added urgency as Pakistan needs to replace its Block-15 F-16s in the next few years.
A defense ministry official, Rear Adm. Mukhtar Khan, said during the hearing that the United States has not objected to the sale, but that it might be a challenge under the current environment to get the United States to formally sign off on the deal.
Aziz told the meeting that the government was correct in not accepting U.S. conditions because they would have affected Pakistan's national interests.
U.S. lawmakers questioned the proposed sale, announced in February, last month.
"The Pakistanis have been an unreliable partner over the course of the last 10 years in the fight against extremism," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said on the Senate floor. "But what I worry more is that these F-16s will provide cover, will provide substitute for truly meaningful action inside Pakistan to take on the roots of extremism."
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., insisted the deal go through as planned. "It is pretty standard to help with the financing, especially of countries that one, are not very wealthy, and two are our allies," McCain said. "And it's important they have these capabilities."
U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., criticized "the Administration's recent attempt to subsidize with taxpayer dollars the sale of F-16s to Pakistan" during an April 27 Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
"Many Members of Congress, including me, seriously question the judgment and timing of such a sale," Salmon said in his opening statement. "Additionally, India-Pakistan tensions remain elevated, and some question whether the F-16s could ultimately be used against India or other regional powers, rather than the terrorists as Pakistan has asserted."
