US responds to Jaishankar’s comment on F-16 sales to Islamabad: ‘We look to India and Pakan as partners’

India and Pakan are both partners of the US with different points of emphasis, the Biden adminration said Monday, a day after visiting External Affairs Miner S Jaishankar questioned the rationale behind the latest American F-16 security assance to Islamabad.
Referring to the argument made the US that F-16 sustenance package is to fight terrorism, Jaishankar had said everybody knows where and against whom F-16 fighter jets are used. “You’re not fooling anybody saying these things,” he said in response to a question during an interaction with Indian-Americans.
“We don’t view our relationship with Pakan, and on the other hand, we don’t view our relationship with India as in relation to one another. These are both partners of ours with different points of emphasis in each,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.
“We look to both as partners, because we do have in many cases shared values. We do have in many cases shared interests. And the relationship we have with India stands on its own. The relationship we have with Pakan stands on its own,” he said.
Early this month, the Biden adminration approved a $450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment programme to Pakan, reversing the decision of the previous Trump adminration to suspend military aid to Islamabad for providing safe havens for the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

#WATCH | On US-Pakan relationship, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, “….Very honestly, it’s a relationship that has neither ended up serving Pakan well nor serving American interests. So, it’s for US to reflect what are the merits of this relationship…”
(Source: EAM’s FB page) pic.twitter.com/qSfih6pdQ5
— ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2022
“We also want to do everything we can to see to it that these neighbours have relations with one another that are as constructive as can be possible. So that’s another point of emphasis,” Price said in response to a question.
Responding to another question, Price said it is “not in Pakan’s interest to see instability and violence in Afghanan”.
“The support for the people of Afghanan is something we discuss regularly with our Pakani partners; our efforts to improve the lives and livelihoods and humanitarian conditions of the Afghan people, and to see to it that the Taliban live up to the commitments that they have made,” he added.
Pakan is implicated in many of these same commitments: the counterterrorism commitments, commitments to safe passage, commitments to the citizens of Afghanan, Price said. “The unwillingness or the inability on the part of the Taliban to live up to these commitments would have significant implications for Pakan as well”.
“So, for that reason, we do share a number of interests with Pakan regarding its neighbour,” Price said.
The United States, he noted, has been intently focused on the devastation that has resulted in the loss of life resulting from the torrential floods that have devastated large areas of Pakan.
“We have provided tens of millions of dollars in relief for these floods. The Secretary today will have additional details on further US assance for the Pakani people, in light of this humanitarian emergency that Pakanis are facing,” he added.