Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has said the F-16s and the Cobra helicopters being supplied to the Pakistan military have had their prices raised, and were no longer affordable for Pakistan. He said this while talking to the media after the Pak-US Strategic Dialogue in Washington, in which he helped represent Pakistan. It should be remembered that these are the planes and helicopters committed in the 1980s, well over 20 years ago, but banned because of Pakistans nuclear programme. Pakistan had initially put aside the money for these purchases, but later spent it, after it had given up on them. They were restored by the USA after Pakistans participation in its War on Terror. This reminder of the pitfalls of US military aid is particularly apt after the USA has committed five years of military aid, in which the US government pays immediately for military equipment acquired by the recipient, the money being repaid to the US government by the recipient like any other aid. However, while US military equipment is favoured by Pakistani military men for its excellence, price has always been an issue. And with such a long gap between the placing of the order and the delivery of the equipment, there are bound to be serious price issues. Even when the equipment is financed, not by US military aid, but the acquiring governments own resources, the US government retains a veto over sales, which it uses to impose its own policies on the receiving country, as happened to Pakistan when it decided to acquire the F-16s whose price Ch Ahmad Mukhtar is now decrying. Those purchases, which Pakistan was to finance from its own resources, were as dependent on the US as the ones which have now been decided upon. They were necessitated because acquiring any equipment, in this case American, meant having made decisions about the very shape the military would have in the long-term future. The previous experience shows that until the equipment is actually delivered to Pakistan, the USA will have a lever over Pakistan, which, as past history shows, it will not hesitate to use. As Washington, and the Obama Administration, is infested with pro-Indian elements anxious to pull down Pakistan, as well as anti-Muslim elements always on the lookout to harm a Muslim country, Pakistan should not be surprised by US duplicity over the new agreement, and Ch Ahmad Mukhtar should expect some successor to complain about American prices for the deal of 2010. The government should not show such haste in depending on such an unreliable country, and should look for its defence needs to more reliable friends, such as China.