The US State Department has said that Washington expects Pakistan to “take sustained action against all terrorist groups” and a $450 million foreign military sale from the United States will enable Pakistan to use its F-16 fleet for counterterrorism operations.
The State Department approved last week the sale of $450 million worth of F-16 equipment to Pakistan and notified Congress about it.
During the regular State Department press briefing, Spokesperson Ned Price was asked if he could offer more details on the sale.
Ned Price said that the State Department recently notified “Congress of a proposed foreign military sale valued at $450 million for maintenance and sustainment services for the Pakistani Air Force’s F-16 program.”
“Pakistan is an important partner in a number of regards, an important counterterrorism partner. And as part of our longstanding policy, we provide life cycle maintenance and sustainment packages for U.S.-origin platforms,” the spokesperson said.
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“Pakistan’s F-16 program, it’s an important part of the broader U.S.-Pakistan bilateral relationship, and this proposed sale will sustain Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats by maintaining the F-16 fleet. This is a fleet that allows Pakistan to support counterterrorism operations, and we expect Pakistan will take sustained action against all terrorist groups,” Ned Price added.
In response to another question about flood aid, the spokesperson said that the United States was “deeply saddened by the devastation and by the loss of life throughout Pakistan that these historic floods have caused.”
Ned Price told the briefing that as of September 12, a total of nine U.S. Central Command flights delivered more than half of the 630 metric tons of relief supplies from USAID’s Dubai warehouse for the response to these massive floods. In total, CENTCOM will airlift more than 41,000 kitchen sets, 1,500 rolls of plastic sheeting, tens of thousands of plastic tarps, 8,700 shelter fixing kits all in support of USAID’s flood relief, he said.
“In this fiscal year alone, we’ve provided more than $53 million in humanitarian assistance, including urgently needed support for food, nutrition, multipurpose cash, safe drinking water, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, as well as shelter assistance. We’re going to continue to work very closely with our Pakistani partners to continue to assess the damage that has been wrought by these floods, and we’ll continue to provide assistance to our partners in this time of need.”