Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday said it will buy F-16 jets from other countries if the US failed to provide agreed funds, amid reports that the State Department expressed inability to fund the $700 million deal with American tax payers’ money.
Prime Minister’s advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that the Congressional blockade may force it to turn to other countries. “Pakistan will buy F-16s from some other country if funding (from US) is not arranged,” Aziz said at a seminar.
The two nations had agreed on $700 million deal under which Pakistan was to pay $270 million from its national funds to purchase eight F-16s while the US was supposed to finance the rest of the amount from its Foreign Military Financing. But Congress has refused to approve the funding, leaving the deal in limbo.
Earlier, US lawmakers made it clear that they would not allow the Obama administration to use US funds for the deal. A State Department official said Congress had placed a hold on the deal, forbidding the administration from using US funds. Any delay in the acceptance of the offer, would result in increase in cost of F-16s.
