Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said the move was intended to intensify joint efforts to crack down on militants acting with impunity along the country's borders with Afghanistan. He also underscored the significance of the supply, saying it reflected a changing nature in bilateral defense ties.

"We have had a good dialogue with our Indian friends about this important matter," Blake was quoted saying by The Hindi Web site. "We assure our Indian friends that the arms sale to Pakistan, the character and the nature of our military relationship is really changing now in Pakistan."

Bent on bolstering its military might, India announced plans recently to spend up to $30 billion on its military by 2012. In recent months, for example it inducted a long-range nuclear-tipped missile into its armed forces, unveiling, also, a defense spending budget spiked by 24 percent since last year.

The moves have Pakistan fretting, with leading officials billing India's drive a "massive militarization."

Since winning independence in 1947, India has fought three wars with Pakistan. Fifteen years later, in engaged in a brief but bitter war over a border dispute that still remains unsettled.

Earlier this year, the United States unveiled plans to provide Pakistan with 12 unmanned spy drones to boost surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities over its border regions where militant groups stage routine attacks against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

To challenge such attacks, the United States says it will deliver 18 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan by the end of this month. The supply, though, will come under stringent conditions, including assurances that Islamabad "will not use the planes in any conflict with India," Sify.com, an Indian news portal, reported.

"This is the first time the U.S. has publicly stated that it was taking steps to ensure that its military aid to Pakistan would not be used against India," the report said.

It cited unnamed sources as saying that U.S. Air Force personnel were expected for the delivery of the F-16s. They are expected to supervise their deployment as well as operations being planned against the Taliban and al-Qaida forces.

The U.S. officers are purported to be in control the management and logistics of the F-16s operation. Pakistani pilots will be manning the aircraft.

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