Actually i would disagree in a few points. Firstly not going the cheetah route exposed PAF for 2 decades of insecurity which could have been cut short. Additionally, there would have been a huge level of local knowledge, skill, alloyes, engineering not limited to just airframe capabilities developed to take it forward while enabling many further airforces who would have had this option to upgrade or older m3 could have been sold as a 'new' aircraft. Secondly, Cheetah represented a 4G aircraft; this would have given you HMS which has been a standard rapport for us for decades. Cheetah gave a significant improvement on range as well as payload capacity vs the M3/5. Further to your point this would have ensured Cheetah remained critical for the nuclear option as a payload carrier vs a lowest tier carrier with all the standard capabilities which a 4G has. Personally, i believe not following Cheetah route, it was a huge negative overall and the only rational i can understand is the unavailibility of 9K50C. If this option was not pursued, the 2nd best option of bringing in the F1 was also squandered.
My 2cents input.