US to Upgrade Pakistani F-16s

So the Pakistanis have failed to take the fight to the taliban and al Qaida. Even though the US government has poured $11 billion dollars to Pakistan since 2002. This year has seen a significant increase in cross border attacks from Pakistan to Afghanistan by the taliban.

The Pakistanis are hell bent on negotiating peace deals with terrorists. This has given the terrorists time to regroup and refocus their energy on attacking Coalition forces in Afghanistan.

So why not upgrade Pakistan's F-16s so they can theoretically use them against the taliban and al Qaida. Reuters

Why are we rewarding the Pakistanis for inaction?

WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - The Bush administration has proposed shifting $226.5 million in U.S. counterterrorism aid to Pakistan to upgrade Pakistani F-16 fighters, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The plan has provoked some opposition in the U.S. Congress, where an influential lawmaker questioned how upgraded F-16s, which are widely seen as aimed at countering any threat from India, would be used against al Qaeda and Taliban forces.

U.S. officials have long been frustrated at what they view as Pakistan's failure to do enough to combat militants along its border with Afghanistan, where the United States has some 35,000 troops, many of whom are fighting a Taliban insurgency.

....

"The F-16s that they have are used in counterterrorism operations," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "We made them available to the Pakistanis and they need to be maintained."

The new Pakistani government is facing economic pressures partly from rising food and energy prices and needs aid from the United States, she said. U.S. officials said paying for the F-16 upgrades would free up money for other purposes.

PAKISTAN'S 'CASH-FLOW PROBLEMS'

"This shift comes about as a result of a request from the newly elected Pakistani government, partly because of their cash-flow problems and partly because they are re-evaluating the equipment they need to fight the war on terror," said a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.