U.S. jet deals reflect a balancing act

NEW DELHI — Much was made Friday of the Bush administration's long-expected announcement that it would sell at least two dozen F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan.

Less noticed was that the United States also made India a valuable offer: the chance to shop from a broad menu of U.S. fighter planes, including jets that could be built in India.

The two offers spelled a fundamental shift in the U.S. approach to nuclear South Asia, one that feeds a potentially dangerous arms race in a region rife with conflict, but reflects U.S. priorities in a post 9/11 world.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, when they were violently separated at birth, and approached the brink of a fourth in 2002. Both were roundly criticized by the United States when they detonated their twin nuclear bombs in May 1998.

Today, relations between the countries remain tense but promising.

The Bush administration is clearly banking on the improved relations, and it took pains Friday to point out that it was not playing favorites.

The administration appears not to want to insult either country. It needs Pakistan's cooperation in fighting terrorism, and it sees long-term gains in a strategic partnership with India. At the same time, India and the United States have competing interests on Iran. The United States seeks international unity in pressuring Iran to give up uranium enrichment for nuclear use, while India is keen to build a gas pipeline from Iran.

Pakistan, which has waited 15 years to buy the F-16s, welcomed the announcement, calling it a vindication of the close ties that Musharraf has built with the Bush administration since Sept. 11, 2001. The sale was announced even as questions remain about the nuclear black market run by the Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan.

Information Minister Sheik Ahmed Rashid, on state-run television yesterday, saluted the sale, saying, "The credit goes to President Musharraf."

Meanwhile, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, expressed his "disappointment" with the F-16 sale to Pakistan.

Perhaps more meaningful, an Indian Foreign Ministry statement yesterday enumerated the opportunities in the U.S. offer to New Delhi.

The statement pointed out that U.S. defense companies will be allowed to sell India 126 "multirole combat aircraft," including F-16s and F-18s. It will be the first time India buys a major weapons platform from the United States.

India wants to manufacture at least some of those planes, something that the Bush administration has not ruled out.

"Long term, it would mean moving toward manufacturing here," one U.S. official said yesterday. "We want India to become a serious global power."

C. Raja Mohan, a defense specialist at Jawaharlal Nehru University, read Friday's announcement as an endorsement of India's strategic importance, not just vis-a-vis Pakistan but also as a weight to counter China's growing military might.

"It's saying we want India to be strong," he said. "The message to Beijing is quite strong. It's not just a balance between India and Pakistan."

The sale of the F-16s to Pakistan is unlikely to significantly tilt the balance of power in South Asia, some analysts say. It would, however, allow both sides to claim the United States as an ally and to keep the rival in check.

"Symbolically it is sort of a litmus test for the credibility of Pakistan's relationship with the U.S.," said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and an analyst. "If we are genuinely allied to the U.S., it must also revive its sales of F-16s."