A sane United States government might have demanded that Musharraf take firmer action against the Lal Masjid, or against pro-Taliban elements in Pakistan in general, before upgrading his fighter jets. From PTI, :
ISLAMABAD: The United States has approved Pakistan’s request to upgrade a squadron of its old F-16 fighters with advanced targeting equipment to enhance their precision attack capability.
The US government has formally issued permission to lockeed Martin, the makers of F-16, to install 18 sniper advanced targeting pods (ATP) in the aircrafts, officials were quoted in Islamabad as saying.
The modernisation would take two years and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) would also get the spares and training under the contract.
PAF wanted the ATP as it demonstrated exceptional performance in meeting the requirements, the report said.