While there can still be free lunches, there can be no free F-16 fighter jets for Pakistan. In plain terms, that is the message the Congress in the United States of America has tried to convey to its government that was seeking permission to procure eight aircraft for Pakistan with US military aid funds. The decision is a setback for the Barack Obama government's plans of adding ballast to America's relations with Pakistan at a crucial time - the historic drawdown in Afghanistan and the strategic developments in the region that has seen China gaining a steady lead. Sensing the US's needs, Pakistan has ramped up its demands and has even had the satisfaction of witnessing some wishes fulfilled. The US state department's sudden acquiescing to the F-16 sale was a part of this chain of events. The US Congress's refusal to back the Obama government's plan puts a spanner in the works and does terrible damage to Pakistan's ego. Both the political and military establishments in Pakistan have a stake in the revival of the sale of the fighter jets, given its symbolic value in the US-Pakistan relationship. Every time the US has revived the sale after its suspension on some logic or another since the late 1970s, it has marked Pakistan's resumption of its role as an indispensable ally to the US. It has used this unique position not merely to justify greater financial assistance but also to further its strategic designs in the region, particularly at the cost of India. It was no different this time, which is why the snub from the Congress is unlikely to be viewed kindly by Pakistan. It is already pleading its case as a victim of America's whimsies and is now threatening to get its supply of fighter jets from more trustworthy friends.

For India, the suspension of the sale is a major diplomatic victory. The F-16s are no threat to India's military capability, but it needed to draw attention to the contradiction that has plagued American policymaking on Pakistan for a long time now - the US's mollycoddling of an ally despite it consistently undermining American interests, especially in the crucial war against terror. American politicians have severally referred to Pakistan as a terror factory, and yet the US government has been found bending over backwards to comply with its wishes. The US Congress has made pointed references to Pakistan's dual game in Afghanistan and its failure in counter-terrorism efforts. Hopefully, its observations will be heeded by the next government in America.