OPED: The F-16 Paradox: How the West and China are Tightening the Vise Around India
OPED: The F-16 Paradox: How the West and China are Tightening the Vise Around India When the United States recently cleared a $488 million radar support contract for Pakistan’s aging F-16 fleet, Washington rolled out its standard, decades-old justification: It is for counterterrorism. But as India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar bluntly retorted to Western policymakers, "You are not fooling anybody." Everyone knows exactly where those supersonic fighter jets are deployed. They aren't chasing cave-dwelling militants; they are oriented entirely toward India’s western border. What is unfolding in South Asia today is a massive geopolitical paradox. While Washington views Beijing as its greatest existential rival, and New Delhi as a vital democratic counterweight in the Indo-Pacific, Western actions are inadvertently feeding a dangerous matrix. By sustaining Pakistan's military hardware, the West is providing China with a live-canvas laboratory to decode,...