nuclear-news

Pakistan wants USA to do a nuclear deal

A report in April by Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs found Pakistan’s stockpiles faced “immense” threats of theft “from nuclear insiders with extremist sympathies, al Qaeda or Taliban outsider attacks, and a weak state.”

Pakistan to Push for Nuclear Deal in U.S. – WSJ.com, By TOM WRIGHT, 14 Oct 10, ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s renewed push to clinch a civilian nuclear deal with Washington threatens to further strain relations that are already tense over Islamabad’s refusal to attack Taliban havens on its soil.

Pakistan officials say they will again raise their demand for a deal—similar to one the U.S. concluded with India—during a meeting Oct. 22 in Washington headed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Islamabad views a civilian nuclear deal with the U.S. as a key compromise to show Pakistan is on a level with its rival India in the eyes of the U.S. Such a deal would assuage fears here that Washington has any intention of dismantling Pakistan’s nuclear program.

The U.S. is unlikely to give in to the demands, Pakistan officials acknowledge, adding a further level of mistrust to a relationship already bedeviled by frustration in Washington over Pakistan’s failure to crack down on Taliban militants that attack U.S. troops over the border in Afghanistan.

Washington is concerned about Pakistan’s previous history of proliferation and continued ramping up of its military nuclear arsenal, which it is developing as a deterrent to India, possibly with Chinese aid. It has turned down Pakistan’s requests for a civilian nuclear deal in the past…….
U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to India in early November on his first official visit to South Asia and any signs of engagement with Pakistan on nuclear issues ahead of that trip would likely ensure him a frosty reception in New Delhi.

Pakistan’s blocking of the Obama administration’s push this year at the United Nations for a treaty to ban the production of weapons-grade fissile material also has angered U.S. officials. Last week, Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. assistant secretary of state in charge of arms control, told the U.N. that Washington’s patience was running out over the slow pace of talks toward nuclear arms control.

Pakistan argues it should be allowed to build up its nuclear arsenal to counter India’s larger conventional armed forces. It also says India’s civilian-nuclear deal has given it an unfair advantage.

The pact allows U.S. and other suppliers of nuclear fuel for power plants to export to India………….
India and Pakistan, along with Israel, have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and their stockpiles are among the fastest growing in the world.Pakistan currently has about 70 to 90 nuclear warheads, and India has between 60 and 80, according to estimates published by the Federation of American Scientists, a nongovernmental group. The U.S. has 1,968 warheads but is reducing its stockpile while Pakistan and India are expanding theirs……

A report in April by Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs found Pakistan’s stockpiles faced “immense” threats of theft “from nuclear insiders with extremist sympathies, al Qaeda or Taliban outsider attacks, and a weak state.”

In India, Pakistan’s weapons buildup is widely viewed as a security risk. “How do you ensure the weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands?” asks Brahma Chellaney, a professor at the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank.

The father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, A.Q. Khan, admitted in 2004 to selling weapons technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. He later recanted his confession,…

Pakistan to Push for Nuclear Deal in U.S. – WSJ.com

October 15, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Pakistan, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons, reactors