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Pakistan wants short-range nukes to deter India
Khalid Kidwai, a top adviser to Pakistan government said Monday (March 23) , speaking at a conference on nuclear security organized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington,. that Pakistan needs short-range "tactical" nuclear weapons to deter arch-rival India, dismissing concerns it could increase the risk of a nuclear war. Kidwai rejected concerns over the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, insisting that adequate safeguards are in place to protect what analysts have described as the world's fastest-growing atomic arsenal.
Pakistan's development of smaller warheads built for use on battlefields, in addition to longer-range weapons, has increased international concerns that they could get into rogue hands because of the pervasive threat of Islamic militants in the country.
A recent report by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank estimated that Pakistan has enough fissile material to produce between 110 and 120 nuclear weapons, and India enough for 90 to 110 weapons.
For 15 years, Kidwai led the administration of Pakistan's nuclear and missile weapons program. He now serves as an adviser to the National Command Authority, a committee of the top civilian and military leaders that sets the country's nuclear weapons policy.
On the sidelines of the conference, Rakesh Sood, former Indian special envoy for disarmament and nonproliferation, said it was "extremely destabilizing for any country to develop tactical nuclear weapons" and that India has no plans to. He contended that Pakistan's nuclear doctrine is "cloaked in ambiguity" which undermines confidence between the two countries.
Kidwai said nuclear deterrence had helped prevent war in South Asia. He said Pakistan's development of tactical weapons — in the form of the Nasr missile, which has a 37-mile (60-kilometer) range — was in response to concerns that India's larger military could still wage a conventional war against the country.
When questioned whether such intermingling of conventional forces and nuclear weapons in a battlefield could increase the risk of nuclear war, Kidwai replied that having tactical weapons would make war less likely.
He said given the strength of the rest of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, the fear of "mutually assured destruction" of the South Asian rivals would ensure that "sanity prevails."
At the other end of Pakistan's missile inventory is the Shaheen-III missile that it test-fired this month. It has a range of 1,700 miles (2,750 kilometers), giving it the capability to reach every part of India — but also potentially to reach into the Middle East, including Israel.
Kidwai said Pakistan wanted a missile of that range because it suspected India was developing strategic bases on its Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal. He said the nuclear and missile program was "India-specific" and not aimed at other countries.
MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Khalid Kidwai, a top adviser to Pakistan government said Monday (March 23) , speaking at a conference on nuclear security organized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington,. that Pakistan needs short-range "tactical" nuclear weapons to deter arch-rival India, dismissing concerns it could increase the risk of a nuclear war. Kidwai rejected concerns over the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, insisting that adequate safeguards are in place to protect what analysts have described as the world's fastest-growing atomic arsenal.
Pakistan's development of smaller warheads built for use on battlefields, in addition to longer-range weapons, has increased international concerns that they could get into rogue hands because of the pervasive threat of Islamic militants in the country.
A recent report by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank estimated that Pakistan has enough fissile material to produce between 110 and 120 nuclear weapons, and India enough for 90 to 110 weapons.
For 15 years, Kidwai led the administration of Pakistan's nuclear and missile weapons program. He now serves as an adviser to the National Command Authority, a committee of the top civilian and military leaders that sets the country's nuclear weapons policy.
On the sidelines of the conference, Rakesh Sood, former Indian special envoy for disarmament and nonproliferation, said it was "extremely destabilizing for any country to develop tactical nuclear weapons" and that India has no plans to. He contended that Pakistan's nuclear doctrine is "cloaked in ambiguity" which undermines confidence between the two countries.
Kidwai said nuclear deterrence had helped prevent war in South Asia. He said Pakistan's development of tactical weapons — in the form of the Nasr missile, which has a 37-mile (60-kilometer) range — was in response to concerns that India's larger military could still wage a conventional war against the country.
When questioned whether such intermingling of conventional forces and nuclear weapons in a battlefield could increase the risk of nuclear war, Kidwai replied that having tactical weapons would make war less likely.
He said given the strength of the rest of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, the fear of "mutually assured destruction" of the South Asian rivals would ensure that "sanity prevails."
At the other end of Pakistan's missile inventory is the Shaheen-III missile that it test-fired this month. It has a range of 1,700 miles (2,750 kilometers), giving it the capability to reach every part of India — but also potentially to reach into the Middle East, including Israel.
Kidwai said Pakistan wanted a missile of that range because it suspected India was developing strategic bases on its Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal. He said the nuclear and missile program was "India-specific" and not aimed at other countries.
MATTHEW PENNINGTON
