Just days after US president Joe Biden made a surprise comment on Pakistan’s nuclear program that left the government gob-smacked, Washington now expressed “confidence” that Pakistan can secure nukes.
Mr. Biden on Thursday said Pakistan was “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” because it has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion.” However, Monday’s comment by State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel narrated a different story as he said that the US is confident of Pakistan’s commitment and its ability to secure its nuclear assets. Not only this, but Patel viewed a secure and prosperous Pakistan as critical to US interests. Two statements from one country with each are contradicting the other.
Anyways, no more details were given, but the remark was made by Mr. Biden while listing the global threats facing the US in the evolving international environment instead of a standalone threat.
The then US President Donald Trump on August of 2017 made similar statement and expressed Washington’s deep concern that nuclear weapons and materials in Pakistan could land up in the hands of terror groups. Five years have passed since 2017, but nothing such happened, amplifying the wrong perception of the Trump administration.
Pakistan strongly reacted to Biden statement
Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan was a responsible nuclear state and that it takes safety measures with the utmost seriousness. His Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari used good words in regards to Biden’s remarks in order not to hurt relations between Washington and Islamabad.
Zardari said Pakistan has met all and every international standard in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Agency in regards to safety and security of nuclear assets. But he jumped to bring under question its arch-enemy India as he said that if there is any question on nuclear security and safety then those questions should be directed to India who very recently “accidentally fired a missile into Pakistani territory.”
However, Pakistan foreign ministry expressed its disappointment and concern while summoning US Ambassador Donald Blome and called Biden’s remark not based on ground reality or facts.
Did the US help Pakistan to build nuclear weapons?
It is widely believed that the Chinese provided the nuclear blueprints to Pakistan in the 1980s, but at that time the US overlooked the Pakistani nuclear program because it badly needed Pakistani support in the fight against the Red Army in Afghanistan. The CIA had a big operating base in Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan war, and it would be irrational to think that it had no idea about Pakistan’s nuclear activities. For the US defeating communism was a priority and everything else was put on the back burner.
Meanwhile, the US was monitoring Pakistan in order to make sure it is not building nuclear bomb from 1985 to 1999 while providing military aids to the country. Even in 1990 when the Soviet withdrew from Afghanistan, the US used the Pressler amendment to ban sale of military equipment to Pakistan, citing Pakistani nuclear program, but it was too late.
Despite the US and a number of western powers pressurizing Pakistan to not build a nuclear arsenal, the Pakistani leadership did accept their arguments as they said its nuclear arsenal was key to the security of Pakistan as long as India also had a nuclear weapon. Indeed, Pakistan surprised the US and other countries when it did its first atomic test, and it had no obligation to take permission from anyone.
