WASHINGTON: A day after Congress suspended US funding for the F-16s deal, the State Department acknowledged that Pakistan needs those aircraft for its antiterrorism activities.
“We believe they’re the right platform to support Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts, and have been a part of the successful pushback, if you will, or in past operations against some of the militant groups that are active in Pakistan,” the department’s deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, told a news briefing.