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U.S. to examine Pakistan’s role

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan military is “effectively” using its F-16 fighter jets alongside other aircraft against militant strongholds in its north-western tribal areas, a military spokesman asserted on Monday.

Major-General Athar Abbas, the Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations, dismissed suggestions that the Pakistan military had pressed the F-16s into service to prove to a sceptical U.S. Congress that it was not diverting U.S. anti-terrorism money to arm itself against India.

Major-General Abbas also refuted the view that F-16s, meant principally for aerial combat, could not be used efficiently in counter-insurgency operations.

“The Air Force decides what kind of aircraft to use, depending on the situation. The F-16s are very effective. They are used for reconnaissance, and for close air support to ground troops. It is not unusual to use them in such operations,” Major-General Abbas told The Hindu.

A U.S. congressional committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday to investigate allegations that Pakistan is using money given to it by the Bush administration for the “war on terror” to buy weapons that appear more intended for use against India than in anti-terrorist operations.

The inherent sarcasm in the title of the hearing — “Defeating Al Qaeda’s Air Force: Pakistan’s F-16 Programme in the Fight Against Terrorism” — has not gone unnoticed, and is an indication of the level of scepticism in the U.S. Congress about Pakistan’s need for the fighter jets.

The hearing was called by Democrat Congressman Gary Ackerman, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs sub-committee on the Middle East and South Asia. The sub-committee will ask witnesses to give testimony on how Pakistan has used U.S. anti-terror funds for operations against Al-Qaeda and Taliban. It will also seek testimony on how Pakistan’s F-16 programme has contributed to its efforts in the “war on terror.” It will seek answers to how the use of funds meant for anti-terrorism operations to pay for mid-life updates to Pakistan’s existing F-16 fleet enhances those efforts.

In July this year, the Bush Administration proposed shifting $226.5 million in U.S. counterterrorism aid to Pakistan to upgrade Pakistani F-16 fighters. The sub-committee will also look at what counter-terrorist equipment could be foregone as a result of that.

Late last week, an unnamed Pakistani official briefed U.S. and Pakistani journalists in Washington that the Pakistan military was using F-16 fighters in operations against terrorists and needs upgrades to be able to carry out operations at night.

He is reported to have said that F-16s flew nearly 100 missions since the first week of August. “These missions have been very focused and since air power is always effective, the Taliban are very much upset,” he was quoted by Reuters

The official’s remarks were confirmation of media reports and a buzz in the diplomatic community in Pakistan that F-16s were used alongside Cobra helicopters in the August operations in Bajaur agency. The aerial bombardment displaced over 3,00,000 civilians from their homes, an unprecedented number in the eight years that Pakistan has been involved in the “war against terror.”

The Pakistan military claims to have killed over 500 Taliban militants in ongoing operations.

Diplomatic observers are sceptical of the military’s claims about Taliban casualties, especially as Pakistan’s existing fleet of F-16s is not equipped for precision-bombing of targets on the ground.

They said that without such equipment, the F-16s could have at best dumped “dumb bombs,” or bombs of 500 kg or more, from a height of about two km that could have fallen anywhere over a 50-metre radius, in textbook conditions – flat terrain, no wind, and accurate forecasting of weather conditions. The terrain in Bajaur is hilly.

“Pakistan has to show the F-16s are being used for assisting the U.S. in counter-terrorism operations. It seems to the most likely reason that they were used in Bajaur,” said a senior diplomat, adding that this was the first known instance of the Top Gun aircraft being used in such operations.

Reports on Monday said Pakistani troops in Waziristan fired shots in the air to prevent the U.S. troops from crossing over from Afghanistan.

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