United States (US) officials did a count of Islamabad’s F-16 jets recently and found that none were missing, contradicting India’s claims that it shot down a Pakistani fighter jet amid heightened tensions between both countries after the Pulwama attack, reported the Foreign Policy.
According to the report, one of the unnamed senior US defence officials “with direct knowledge of the count” had told Foreign Policy that Pakistan had invited the US to count its F-16 planes after the incident “as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalised”, the report said.
Foreign Policy added that Washington generally requires countries it strikes such agreements with to allow US officials to inspect equipment on a regular basis and to ensure that it is accounted for and safe.
The official explained that some of the aircraft were not immediately available for inspection after the Pak-India back-and-forth, so it took US personnel a few weeks to account for all the jets.
An associate professor of political science at MIT, Vipin Narang, told FP that although the news likely won’t affect Indian voters, it may affect Delhi’s dealings with Pakistan in the future.
“As details come out, it looks worse and worse for the Indians,” Narang said. “It looks increasingly like India failed to impose significant costs on Pakistan, but lost a plane and a helicopter of its own in the process.”
