nuclear-news

 Pakistan has formally backed U.S. counterterrorism efforts since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has received billions of dollars in aid from Washington. Osama bin Laden’s death in Pakistan earlier this year, though, prompted speculation that officials there might have knowingly sheltered the al-Qaeda leader. The Obama administration has also pressed Islamabad to step up operations against the Haqqani network and other militant organizations.

Texas Governor Rick Perry called at a Republican presidential debate in Washington for an end to all U.S. aid to Pakistan (see GSN, Sept. 23).

“The bottom line is that they’ve showed us time after time that they can’t be trusted. And until Pakistan clearly shows that they have America’s best interests in mind, I would not send them one penny, period,” Perry said.

Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) defended U.S. assistance to Pakistan, asserting that extremists have already made “six attempts” against the country’s nuclear facilities.

Six attacks have taken place near installations known or thought to host nuclear activities, but the strikes were not believed to directly target those sensitive operations, according to a Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center analysis cited by CNN (see GSN, June 14). Islamabad maintains that its atomic assets —estimated this year to include between 90 and 110 nuclear warheads — are secure and has played down international fears that militants might steal a warhead or weapon-grade material from its nuclear stockpile.

“The Obama policy of keeping your fingers crossed is not working in Pakistan,” Bachmann said, adding the country is “too nuclear to fail.”….

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman voiced similar alarm earlier in the discussion over the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. He called for greater use of U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles in the country.

Separately, the candidates voiced divisions over U.S. involvement in a potential Israeli strike against Iranian atomic facilities…..

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20111123_4998.php