The US State Department has refused to take a position on New Delhi’s complaint against Pakistan for using F-16s in an air combat with India, saying that it does not offer public comments on bilateral agreements.

“We have seen those reports and we’re following that issue very closely. I can’t confirm anything, but as a matter of policy, we don’t publicly comment on the contents of bilateral agreements… involving US defence technologies,” the department’s deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said, Dawn reported.

At a news briefing on Tues­day, Mr Palladino said the US also avoided public discussions on communications with other countries about such issues.

“So we’re taking a look and we’re going to continue to take a look, and I’m going to leave it at that,” he said.