US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday defended military sales to Pakistan after withering criticism from growing US partner India, which considers itself the target of Islamabad\u2019s F-16 planes.
\nBlinken met in the US capital with India\u2019s foreign minister a day after separate talks with his counterpart from Pakistan.
\nThe top US diplomat defended a $450 million F-16 deal for Pakistan approved earlier in September, saying the package was for the maintenance of Pakistan\u2019s existing fleet.
\n\u201cThese are not new planes, new systems, new weapons. It\u2019s sustaining what they have,\u201d Blinken told a news conference with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
\n\u201cPakistan\u2019s program bolsters its capability to deal with terrorist threats emanating from Pakistan or from the region. It\u2019s in no one\u2019s interests that those threats be able to go forward with impunity,\u201d Blinken said.
\nJaishankar did not criticize Blinken in public. But on Sunday, speaking at a reception for the Indian community in the United States, Jaishankar said of the US position, \u201cYou\u2019re not fooling anybody.\u201d
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