December 3, 1998 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
The United States and Pakistan said Friday they hoped for an "early and fair" agreement on how to compensate Islamabad for its aborted purchase of U.S. F-16 fighters.
At their meeting Wednesday, President Clinton briefed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on U.S. efforts to compensate
Pakistan for the $658million it paid for 28 F-16s -- which it never received due to U.S. sanctions imposed in 1990 because of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
U.S. officials said the United States has already paid $157 million of this back to Islamabad, raising the money by selling aircraft components to other countries.
New Zealand Tuesday agreed to pay some $105 million over 10 years to lease the fighters, providing additional funds that could be used to give Pakistan some of its money back.
