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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senior U.S. officials said Friday that a deal to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan was approved and the United States will compete for contracts to provide Pakistan's nuclear rival India with the same jets.

President Bush called Indian Prime Minister Monmohan Singh to tell him the decision to go ahead with the sale to Pakistan, the officials announced. India has balked at the sale.

India and Pakistan have been at odds for decades over ownership of the region of Kashmir.

The United States had banned weapons sales to both India and Pakistan in the 1990s because each had tested nuclear weapons. One official said that the United States has had to adapt to the reality that both countries have a nuclear capability.

"The U.S. has to live in the world that exists, not the world we wish" exists, the official said. He added that the United States is trying to create a "positive force" and defuse tensions in a potentially dangerous region.

U.S. officials said the sale to Pakistan is the result of the deepening relationship with that country. The improved relations, they said, came about because of President Pervez Musharraf 's actions since the September 11, 2001, attacks -- assisting with the hunt for Osama bin Laden, cooperating with the investigation into the weapons network of Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan and agreeing to elections in 2007.

Last year, the Bush administration declared Pakistan a non-NATO ally and this year, the United States started a five-year aid package to Pakistan worth $3 billion.
Crucial region in terror war

The sale to both countries is part of a new U.S. strategy for South Asia, a region the United States sees as vital to U.S. national security interests and crucial to the war on terror.

A senior administration official said that the Bush administration will continue to broaden its relationship with India. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, in India last week, told Prime Minister Singh that the United States will help India become a major world power in the 21st century.

The official said that United States will allow U.S. companies to bid for contracts to provide F-16 fighter jets to India and additional defense technology, such as command and control and early warning systems.

The United States will also beef up its economic, energy and trade ties with India, the official said.

Indian Prime Minister Singh has already accepted an invitation from Bush to visit the White House in July, and the president plans to visit India sometime within the next year, an official said.

Officials said they do not see the sale to either country as tilting the military balance between India and Pakistan. Although officials would not talk specific numbers for the sales, India is shopping for 125 aircraft. Pakistan has had a long-standing request for 25.

However, these officials said, the sale could increase Pakistan's security with India at a time of improved relations between the two countries.

"It is important for the Pakistani government feel secure," one official said. "It is in India's interest that Pakistan feel secure."

"RickUSN-

That was intelligent and useful Mudd.

But it certainly is what Ive come to expect.

Mindless babbling with no intent to either enlighten or inform.

I've heard that the PAF is a pretty competent fighting force.
And what models are they getting, Block 52s?
Probably.

I like the potential economics of the situation: By giving Pakistan F-16's, we potentially undercut sales by China of their J-10 or F-17 PAK/FA fighters. By opening the Indian market, we undercut sales from Russia, further debilitating their abilities to fund military projects. Be nice to see foreign military sales and development be undercut, wither, and go extinct as the market becomes US-dependent.

Dammit, Snipe, you are <i>not</i> talking your way out of this one; the kids caught you fair and square, so grant them their three wishes and hand over your pot of gold!

The F-16 sale to PAF will help to keep up the strenght of the earlier F-16 sqns as well as help raise a new sqn/ or replace aging fighters in some existing sqn.
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> I've heard that the PAF is a pretty competent fighting force.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
tritonal,
The PAF is a excellent air force with a history to prove it. Its pilots have seen combat in a number of theaters including Arab-Israeli wars.
I doubt that the Block 52's would go to PAF, since the PAF has covertly supplied an F-16 to the PLAAF for research and development. The US would'nt want their hi-tech info fall into PLAAF hands too soon.
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> By opening the Indian market, we undercut sales from Russia, further debilitating their abilities to fund military projects. Be nice to see foreign military sales and development be undercut, wither, and go extinct as the market becomes US-dependent.<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
This will take a long time to happen. The IAF does not need F-16s now, and the Russain equipment is here to stay in India. The prime reason is cost and reliability of supply. Besides, we don't want to get into an arms race.
IMO It is better for Pak forces to be dependent on US arms, at least they can be controlled. With purely PRC support they may not play the US tune for long. So it is good that they are buying US equipment.h