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U.S. refused to sell F-16s to Bangladesh
June 30, 1999 (by
Lieven Dewitte) -
The United States, which refused to sell Bangladesh its F-16 warplanes several years ago, is concerned about Dhaka's plan to buy eight Russian MiG-29s, State Department officials said on Thursday.
They already had a number of conversations with Bangladeshi officials to explain our concerns and they have also declined to sell high-performance aircraft to Bangladesh for their part.
A State Department official said Bangladesh had wanted to buy several F-16s but the United States felt the planes were "not really appropriate" for Bangladesh. The discussions did not reach the stage of negotiations and were not publicized at the time, he added.
Bangladeshi government and opposition lawmakers squared off in parliament on Wednesday over the decision to buy the MiGs. Members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jatiya Party said the deal, struck this week, was "unnecessary and expensive compared to the country's defense needs. " But Finance Minister S. A. M. S. Kibria said Bangladesh needed strong armed forces to defend its independence.
It was unclear what prompted impoverished Bangladesh to buy the MiG-29s. The country faces no military threat from India, which surrounds it on three sides, or from Myanmar to the southeast.
A State Department official said Bangladesh had wanted to buy several F-16s but the United States felt the planes were "not really appropriate" for Bangladesh. The discussions did not reach the stage of negotiations and were not publicized at the time, he added.
Bangladeshi government and opposition lawmakers squared off in parliament on Wednesday over the decision to buy the MiGs. Members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jatiya Party said the deal, struck this week, was "unnecessary and expensive compared to the country's defense needs. " But Finance Minister S. A. M. S. Kibria said Bangladesh needed strong armed forces to defend its independence.
It was unclear what prompted impoverished Bangladesh to buy the MiG-29s. The country faces no military threat from India, which surrounds it on three sides, or from Myanmar to the southeast.
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