WASHINGTON, Dec 26: The Bush administration is maneuvering to balance possible big new US arms sales to India and Pakistan in the new year. In the past week, US Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have made separate visits, not announced in advance, to Pakistan, a key ally in the US-declared war on terrorism.

Islamabad will make up its mind in the coming year on a US offer to resume F-16 fighter aircraft sales after a 16-year break, Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri was quoted by the Associated Press of Pakistan as saying after Cheney left.

Earlier this month, Air Force Lt-Gen Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency, said he expected Pakistan to modify buying plans because of the Oct 8 earthquake.

“I think that what we were ready to do right before the earthquake is probably going to have to change,” Kohler said in a Dec 7 interview with Reuters in Washington.

“We’ll get back with Pakistan early in the new year and see what they want to do,” he added. Before the temblor, Pakistan had asked about buying as many as 75 new F-16C/D models and 11 refurbished F-16s, Kohler said in May.

The single-engine multi-role F-16 is built by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. New purchases would boost a fleet of about 32 F-16s acquired before Congress cut off sales in 1990 over Pakistan’s N-plan.

In May, the Pentagon told Congress it was proposing to let Pakistan buy 300 AIM-9M-1/2 “Sidewinder” heat-seeking, air-to-air missiles and 60 Harpoon missiles with a combined value of up to $226 million.—Reuters