The US has given military hardware, including F-16 fighter jets, to Pakistan amounting to a whopping USD 5.4 billion since the 9/11 terror attacks, according to a latest Congressional report.
"The Pentagon reports total Foreign Military Sales agreements with Pakistan worth about USD 5.4 billion for FY 2002-FY 2014," an internal report of the independent Congressional Research Service said yesterday.
Sales of F-16 combat aircraft and related equipment account for nearly half of this.
Compared to this, in the last 10 years India has placed orders or purchased more than USD 10 billion worth of hi-tech military hardware from the US and is planning to buy more.
The remarkable jump in bilateral defence trade between India and the US is attributable to the improvement in India-US defence ties post 9/11 attacks and the 2005 signing of the Defence Framework Agreement between the two nations.
Meanwhile, the US has quietly armed Pakistan, despite the fact that for two years there was a complete halt in supply of new arms and equipment to Pakistan's military.
The military hardware given to Pakistan in the 10-year framework has been argued as supplies needed by Islamabad for capacity building to fight terrorists in its border areas.
But most of the arms and equipment supplied to Pakistan has been those which could be used for conventional war with India.
According to the one-page Congressional Research Service (CRS) fact sheet, the US Congress has appropriated about USD 3.6 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan since 2001.
More than two-thirds of this has been disbursed.
"These funds are used to purchase US military equipment for long-term modernisation efforts. Pakistan also has been granted US defence supplies as Excess Defence Articles (EDA). Cost includes training and support," the report said.
Major articles transferred via EDA include: 14 F-16A/B Fighting Falcon combat aircraft; 59 T-37 Tweet military trainer jets; and 374 M113 armoured personnel carriers.
