: Jaishankar slams F-16 deal, teases Ukraine mediation #IndiaNEWS #India Washington: Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has slammed the Biden administrations proposal to provide 0 million

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Jaishankar slams F-16 deal, teases Ukraine mediation #IndiaNEWS #India
Washington: Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has slammed the Biden administrations proposal to provide 0 million worth of spares and services for Pakistans F-16s, saying no one is fooled by claims that these highly capable fighter aircraft are meant only for counter-terrorism operations.
And, on a separate issue, the Minister left the door open for a possible role for India in mediating the Ukraine-Russia war. Mexico proposed last week at the UN Security Council that a committee of Heads of state and government, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pope Francis, could help UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres end the war.
Jaishankar kicked off a four-day visit to Washington DC with a first-of-its-kind public interaction for an Indian External Affairs Minister with the Indian American community: a Q&A in which he took unscreened questions from the audience, which, it must be noted, comprised largely of old fans and new fans the moderator, for instance, repeatedly called him a rockstar, and his every answer was greeted with multiple round of applause, with the most excited springing to their feet. Visiting External Affairs usually confine such Q&As to reporters and audiences at think-tank events.
The Minister answered a range of questions from Russias invasion of Ukraine and Pakistan to Kashmir, education, health and his own experiences as a long-time career diplomat.
Very honestly, its a relationship that has neither ended up serving Pakistan well, nor (is it) serving American interests, the Minister said in response to the F-16 spares, which has greatly exercised some Indian-Americans. He framed his criticism of the package in the overall context of a bilateral relationship, which he argued, has been mutually dysfunctional for both Pakistan and the US.
It is really for the US today to reflect the merits of this relationship, Jaishankar added, asking what it wants with this package.
For someone to say Im doing this because it is all counter-terrorism content and so, when you are talking of an aircraft like a capability of an F-16 where everybody knows, you know where they are deployed and what is their use, the Minister said, and added, Youre not fooling anybody by saying these things.
The Biden administration informed the US congress earlier in September that it proposed to provide 0 million worth of spares and services for Pakistans US-made F-16 for their sustainment. No new capabilities or munitions are part of the package, which, it was stated, will also not alter the military balance in the region.
The US administration claimed in the notification that these F-16s are meant for counter-terrorism operations.

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