Threats that Pakistan faces on several fronts raise concerns about the security of its nuclear arsenal, former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton (R-Ind.) wrote in a column published Monday in the Indianapolis Star (see GSN, Sept. 2).
"The danger of a failed state, replete with nuclear weapons, ethnic tensions, Taliban sympathizers and Osama bin Laden in residence, is chilling," wrote Hamilton, noting recent instability in Pakistan's financial sector and arguing that the country's current president lacks the backing needed to counter a strengthening Taliban presence.
U.S. strikes targeting tribal militants have roused regional anger at Washington, and tensions persist between Pakistan and India, added Hamilton, a former member of the Sept. 11 commission who now heads the Woodrow Wilson Center.
He urged the United States to formulate "a comprehensive plan to promote stability in the region with integrated security, political and economic components." The United States must also work to better distinguish Pakistani tribal factions that oppose the Taliban and help Islamabad to support them, he wrote (Lee Hamilton, Indianapolis Star, Nov. 17).
Meanwhile, Pakistan said Tuesday that it would not consider scaling back its nuclear program, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
Pakistani Federal Defense Production Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Jatoi said the country's atomic weapons were safe and that Islamabad would continue to bolster its nuclear capability.
“Our missile program, aimed at defense of the motherland, will also continue,” he said (Associated Press of Pakistan, Nov. 18).