US has given Pakistan arms worth $5.4 bn

After the September 11, 2001 attacks of terror in the US, a report has stated that the US has given Pakistan arms worth of $5.4 billion in order to help with the counter-terrorism operations. The US has also given many “big ticket” platforms which are suited for conventional warfare.

Nearly half of the sale from the Foreign Military Sales are related to F-16 combat aircrafts and related equipment. The report was given by Congressional Research Service.

Many times India has opposed these deals of selling equipment to Pakistan as the country may eventually use it against India.

Congress has appropriated around $3.6 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Pakistan ever since 2001. More than two-thirds of it has been disbursed. The funds provided have been used to buy US military equipment for longer-term modernization efforts.

The US has granted Pakistan their defence supplies as part of Excess Defence Articles. In April 2015, the State Department approved a possible $952 million FMS deal with Pakistan for 15 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and 1,000 Hellfire II missiles, along with helicopter engines, avionics, training, and support.

For counterinsurgency operations, the US has provided 4 Mi-17 multirole helicopters (another 6 were provided temporarily at no cost), 4 King Air 350 surveillance aircraft, 450 vehicles for the Frontier Corps and 20 Buffalo explosives detection and disposal vehicles, the CRS report said.

Photo by Shai Pal on Unsplash (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://unsplash.com/photos/gUHpGEnfA_s