US senators are strongly criticized the use of money of taxpayers for military aid to Pakistan in USD 700 million sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the country. The senators questioned Islamabad's commitment to fight terrorist organizations.
They did not approve tabling of a resolution , which suggests blocking of sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, due to their own political reasons.
Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that, he will not lift the "hold" on the American subsidy for giving fighter jets to Pakistan. The committee has jurisdiction over foreign military sale.
Corker said on the Senate floor, that, "I continue to oppose any taxpayer dollars being used at this time to support this sale given that Pakistan is providing safe haven to terrorist groups and refusing to target the Haqqani network, which attacks US troops and threatens the future of Afghanistan."
"Prohibiting a taxpayer subsidy sends a much-needed message to Pakistan that it needs to change its behaviour, but preventing the purchase of US aircraft would do more harm than good by paving the way for countries like Russia and China to sell to Pakistan while also inhibiting greater cooperation on counterterrorism," Corker added.
Senator Rand Paul, the former Republican presidential candidate, said that, "If Pakistan truly wants to be our ally, if Pakistan truly wants to help in the war on radical Islam, it should not require a bribe. It should not require the American taxpayer to subsidise arms sales. They already have 70 F-16s. They've got an air force of F-16s."
"What what would happen if we didn't send them eight more that we're being asked to pay for? Maybe they'd listen. Maybe they would help us. Maybe they would be an honest broker in the fight against terrorism," he added.
"We don't have enough money to be sending it to Pakistan. I can't in good conscience look away as America crumbles at home and politicians tax us to send the money to corrupt and duplicitous regimes abroad," Paul said.
Senator Mark Warner said that,"if we move forward with these sales without putting some markers down, I think we potentially not only do damage to holding Pakistan's feet to the fire in terms of the threat of terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region, but also potentially could do damage to one of the most important relationships our country has, and that is the strategic relationship between the US and India."
He said referring to the involvement of terrorists from Pakistan in the Pathankot attack, that, "I want to commend the leadership of the Foreign Relations Committee for making very clear that even if this sale should go forward, the financing of this sale is still subject to further American review."
"The US can no longer give Pakistan a pass, whether it is actions in the region vis-a-vis Afghanistan or within their own country but also in terms of their unwillingness to meet India even halfway in terms of trying to bring a greater stability to one of the regions that could potentially be a tinderbox in terms of the border regions between India and Pakistan," he added.
Senator Chris Murphy, Ranking Member of Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counter-terrorism, said that, “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. It is frankly too late in many respects to beat these extremist groups if they are so big, so powerful, so deadly that you have to bomb them from the air."
"And we let them off the hook in a sense by selling them the weapons systems that will in effect constantly force the Pakistanis to chase their own tail. So I think it's important to understand that the Pakistanis are not making the real meaningful contributions to rooting out extremism and just handing weapons systems on the back end doesn't do the job," Murphy added.
"We've given USD 15 billion to Pakistan over the last decade. And yet their previous president admits that Pakistan armed, aided, and abetted the Taliban," he said.
- Nandini
