The statement of French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet, made in New Dehli, that France will not sell Pakistan heavy defence equipment, shows two things. First, that France is not a reliable partner in providing military equipment, and second, how much influence India has over French policy that Mr Longuet found he had to make this statement during his visit to New Delhi. It is perhaps paradoxical that he was proving that France was an unreliable supplier of defence equipment, in order to attempt to sell India 126 combat aircraft by French company Dassault Rafale, as well as a Mirage upgrade. Mr Longuet was also trying both to get in on the action, as well as to please the USA, by linking sales of defence equipment to Pakistan to its providing an explanation of what Osama bin Laden had been doing in Abbottabad. Thus Mr Longuet was drawing attention away from the American violation of Pakistani sovereignty and somehow transferring the blame to Pakistan for whatever happened. This would have made the Indian establishment happier, for it was a faithful reproduction of its line on the Abbottabad raid, though it reflected less conviction than a desire to sell India planes ahead of the Eurofighter, with which Dassault Rafale is in competition. The unreliability of France in strategic equipment acquisition has been known to Pakistan since 1976, when it submitted to US pressure and reneged on its agreement to provide Pakistan a nuclear reprocessing plant. It did so under US pressure, and in order to meet American nonproliferation goals. However, those goals have gone out of the window where India is concerned, as shown by the civilian nuclear deal the USA has given it while denying one to Pakistan. France has been an unreliable supplier because it, like the USA, links its companies activities to its political goals, which it has made the same as the USAs. The primary lesson to be learnt is that Pakistan must not even attempt to curry favour with unreliable suppliers like France and the USA, but instead should only use reliable suppliers, like China, which has always delivered equipment when contracted for, with transfer of technology if feasible. In the two fields where France has been doing American bidding, for example, China has supplied nuclear plants and will provide further, while it has jointly developed the Jf-17 Thunder fighter. Only if the right lessons are learnt will the nation progress.