US vows deeper India defence ties on same day latter vents anger over F-16 deal with Pakistan

Pentagon chief meets Indian foreign minister in Washington, committing to support New Delhi as ‘security provider’ in Indo-Pacific region

But envoy earlier says ‘you are not fooling anybody’ by claiming US$450 million deal with Islamabad will bolster counterterrorism

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US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomes Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Pentagon in Washington on Monday. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:36am, 27 Sep 2022Updated: 8:51am, 27 Sep 2022

A US pledge on Monday to deepen defence ties with India – a key partner in its security strategy for the Indo-Pacific region to counter China’s growing muscle – was partially eclipsed by New Delhi lashing out at Washington over its support for Pakistan.

On the same day that US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin pledged to boost US-Indian cooperation, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar expressed irritation over the Biden administration’s approval this month of a US$450 million package to maintain and upgrade Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets.

“For someone to say, ‘I am doing this because it is all counterterrorism content’, and so, when you are talking of an aircraft like a capability of an F-16 where everybody knows … where they are deployed and their use, you are not fooling anybody by saying these things,” Jaishankar said at a book launch in Washington.

The US has argued that maintaining Pakistan’s F-16 fleet will bolster Islamabad’s capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats.

Later on Monday, Austin met with Jaishankar at the Pentagon, and the two “discussed new opportunities for bilateral defence industrial cooperation in support of India’s contributions as a regional security provider”, according to a press release.

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