Pentagon looking for improved relations with Pakistani military

While talking to reporters Tuesday, press secretary of the US Department of Defense, George Little said that transfer of last three F-16s by US to Pakistan shows that despite setbacks in the bilateral relationship last year, our military-to-military cooperation remains ongoing. He said that there was no delay in this transfer and final delivery of F-16s was made as it had been originally scheduled.When asked, if the delivery of F-16s to Pakistan was a confidence-building measure by US towards Pakistan in the context of troubled relationship during the last few months, he only said that we look forward to broadening, expanding, and improving this relationship moving forward with Pakistan.He refused to comment on the New York Times story that United States was considering the option of apologizing to Pakistan on the November 26 NATO airstrike in Mohmand that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. I am not going to comment specifically on that report and would leave it there.He also stepped short of confirming of the visit of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, Gen. James Mattis to Pakistan for a meeting with army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, as some media reports have suggested, and whether the Pakistani officials have given the green signal in this regard. I do not have any visits to announce today, but we always look forward to meeting our Pakistani counterparts, George Little observed. It may be mentioned here that US chief of staff Gen. Martin Dempsey had offered to send Gen. Mattis to Pakistan for a briefing on NATO inquiry report, but Pakistani officials turned it down.Reiterating the official position of Pentagon and the US administration on the question of apology to Pakistan, he said the US had already expressed regret. As you know, in December, we expressed our deepest regret for the killings in the November 25/26 border incident, George Little recalled. We expressed our deepest regret to the Government of Pakistan, in fact to the people of Pakistan, he pointed while stopping short of saying if the US could go on and offer a formal apology. There were also no new updates on the reopening of the NATO supply routes from Pakistan, he suggested. - Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC