Pakistan on Thursday played down the significance of America's reluctance to provide it with F-16 aircraft.

"Pakistan will not depend on one country to fulfil its security and defence needs. If the United States refused to give F-16 fighter planes, the country would buy compatible planes from other countries, including France," the Pakistani media quoted Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as saying in Multan on Wednesday.

He said Pakistanis had expected a lot from President Pervez Musharraf's visit to the US.

In response to the opposition criticism that the US aid of $3 billion was meagre, he said America wanted a long-standing relationship with Pakistan, and getting that much aid was no mean achievement.

He recalled that the US had earlier waived a $1 billion debt.

Asked if his authority as prime minister and chief executive of the country had eroded due to Musharraf's foreign trips, Jamali said it was more important to realise who could better plead the country's case at a particular forum.

Musharraf, he said, had been in constant touch with the Bush administration over the last three years. "On the other hand, I have not (even) seen (US President) George W Bush," he said.

He also dispelled reports that Pakistan was about to accord recognition to Israel. "It will not happen, nor will the country's atomic programme be rolled back."