US examining ways to limit Pakistan’s nuclear weapons stockpile
The administration of US President Barack Obama is examining ways to limit Pakistan’s nuclear weapons stockpile, considered as the world’s fastest-growing nuclear arsenal.
Washington is in talks with Islamabad to reach a nuclear arms control deal, ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the White House next week, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The negotiations are focused on US concerns that Pakistan might deploy a small tactical nuclear weapon that is far more difficult to secure than the country’s arsenal of larger weapons, the newspaper said.
The tactical nuclear weapons are explicitly modeled on weapons the United States deployed in Europe during the Cold War to deter an invasion from the former Soviet Union.
But outside experts familiar with the negotiations have expressed deep skepticism that Pakistan is ready to put any limitations on a program that it considers the pride of the nation.
The Washington Post first reported on the talks a week ago. Obama administration officials have declined to comment on the talks before Sharif’s visit.
So far, most efforts to manage the issue have been covert. Most proliferation experts consider the Pakistani nuclear problem to be the most dangerous on earth.
The discussions come a decade after Abdul Qadeer Khan, one of the founders of Pakistan's nuclear program, was caught selling nuclear technology to several countries.
The activities of Khan prompted more than ten years of American-led punishments against Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
Khan ran the world’s most sophisticated black market in the equipment required to make nuclear fuel. North Korea and Libya were among his clients.
During the George W. Bush’s administration, the US spent as much as $100 million on a highly classified program to help secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, in the form of providing physical security as well as training the Pakistani security personnel.
President Obama has continued those efforts. Officials from the State Department, Energy Department and intelligence officials have held secret meetings with senior Pakistani officials from the Strategic Plans Division that controls the country’s arsenal.
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