Does US have 'plan B' for Pak nukes?
There is strong pressure on Pakistan from Washington to deploy regular troops rather than its constabulary or para-military in the battles against Taliban.
By Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN |
WASHINGTON: US president Barack Obama���s carefully calibrated reply referring to concerns that Pakistan���s nuclear arms might fall into militants��� hands, appeared to suggest that the US has secondary back-up plans in the event of any exigencies, something the intelligence analysts��� community has long considered inevitable.
When the reporter followed up to seek a more precise answer, asking if in the worst case scenario, the US military could secure the nuclear weapons, Obama responded crisply: ������I���m not going to engage in hypotheticals of that sort. I feel confident that that nuclear arsenal will remain out of militant hands. Okay?������
There is strong pressure on Pakistan from Washington to deploy regular troops rather than its constabulary or para-military in the battles against Taliban, but Islamabad is said to be desisting, holding out for greater military aid and equipment to carry out the task.
On one issue, however, Obama was unrelenting: the Predator strikes. ������We want to respect their sovereignty, but we also recognize that we have huge strategic interests, huge national security interests, in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don���t end up having a nuclear-armed militant state,������ he said, without explicitly referring to the Drone issue that has caused much bad blood between the two countries.
When the reporter followed up to seek a more precise answer, asking if in the worst case scenario, the US military could secure the nuclear weapons, Obama responded crisply: ������I���m not going to engage in hypotheticals of that sort. I feel confident that that nuclear arsenal will remain out of militant hands. Okay?������
There is strong pressure on Pakistan from Washington to deploy regular troops rather than its constabulary or para-military in the battles against Taliban, but Islamabad is said to be desisting, holding out for greater military aid and equipment to carry out the task.
On one issue, however, Obama was unrelenting: the Predator strikes. ������We want to respect their sovereignty, but we also recognize that we have huge strategic interests, huge national security interests, in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don���t end up having a nuclear-armed militant state,������ he said, without explicitly referring to the Drone issue that has caused much bad blood between the two countries.
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