Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have concluded a secret agreement on "nuclear cooperation" that will provide the Saudis with nuclear-weapons technology in exchange for cheap oil, according to a ranking Pakistani insider.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have concluded a secret agreement on nuclear cooperation, according to an unnamed Pakistani insider. According to the source, "It will be vehemently denied by both countries but future events will confirm that Pakistan has agreed to provide KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) with the wherewithal for a nuclear deterrent."
The author reviews U.S. policy towards Pakistan and argues that U.S. national security interests would be better served by the U.S. demanding that Pakistan "dismantle the terrorist infrastructure within its borders and put a tight lid on its nuclear proliferation."
The U.S. has evidence that suggests Pakistan assisted North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program as recently as three months ago, much later than previously disclosed.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has approved the acquisition of an anti-ballistic missile system from the US, at an estimated over $1.5 billion, to be deployed at key sensitive installations and nuclear facilities.
?The central drama affecting the future of South Asia is not the hunt for remaining elements of Al Qaeda or even the struggle over the fate of Kashmir, it is the continuing institutional decline of Pakistan, the world?s seventh most populous country and a potential nuclear version of Yugoslavia,? writes Robert D. Kaplan in the New York Times, in a review of two books about Pakistan.
Pakistan's status as a key ally of the United States in the war against terrorism has not protected it from allegations of secretly supplying North Korea with uranium enrichment equipment and technical expertise in exchange for ballistic missile technology.
The first high-level U.S. military delegation to visit Pakistan in four years to discuss security cooperation failed to address possible joint efforts in the area of nuclear security, despite concerns that the country?s small but shrouded nuclear weapons complex may be at risk of theft or leakage, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.
Since Sept. 11, Western analysts increasingly have questioned whether Pakistan's weapons of mass destruction are secure. The fear is that even though Pakistan remains an important US ally in the war against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, its nuclear arsenal could be tempting to rogue elements inside and outside Pakistan.
Pakistan's concern about permanently losing its slot in geo stationary space has led it to put a leased communications satellite by yearend, while keeping an eye on the bigger aim of developing its own satellite presence.