Biden’s Misperceptions about Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons

Biden’s Misperceptions about Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons

 By Sajjad Shaukat

Addressing a Democratic Congressional campaign committee in California on October 13, this year, the US President Joe Biden said that Pakistan was “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” because it has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”

Biden elaborated that the world was changing rapidly and countries were “rethinking their alliances…the world is looking to us…the US has the capacity to lead the world”.

He spoke against China and Russia, saying: “Did anybody think we’d be in a situation where China is trying to figure out its role relative to Russia and relative to India and relative to Pakistan?”

The White House published Biden’s remarks on its website on October 15, 2022, making everything Joe Biden said somewhat ‘official’.

But, his statement ignited anger and condemnation by Pakistan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on October 15, 2022 strongly rejected the statement of the US president, terming it contrary to facts and misleading.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed a “strong” demarche to US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome following President Biden’s remarks over Islamabad’s nuclear programme.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari stated that he was “surprised” at the comments. He added that there was “cause for concern for India’s nuclear weapons programme, not Pakistan’s…as recently it [India] accidentally fired a missile into Pakistani territory.”

In the Corps Commanders’ Conference, chaired by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the military top brass rebuffed comments from the US president Biden.

These civil and military leaders clarified that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals are in safe hands under a strong command and control system—as a responsible nuclear weapon state, the country has taken all measures necessary to strengthen its nuclear security regime at par with international best practices

Former Premier Imran Khan and Chairman of the PTI party too has condemned the Biden’s statement, calling it a total failure of the “imported government’s foreign policy” and its claims of a reset of relations with the US.

A day later on October 15, 2022, the White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre remarked: “The president [Biden] views a secure and prosperous Pakistan…that’s important to our own interests in the US.” She added that Biden’s statement regarding Pakistan’s nuclear assets were “nothing new” as he has made those comments before as well.

Contrarily, America’s State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters recently that the United States had confidence in Pakistan’s ability to secure its nuclear arsenal.

Undoubtedly, these contradictory statements prove that Biden has revived the US misperceptions about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

In fact, being the only nuclear country in the Islamic World, Pakistan is on the hit-list of America, India and Israel, including some Western countries which are creating unrest and continue a deliberate propaganda campaign against the safety of these weapons in order to obtain their selfish aims to ‘denuclearise’ Pakistan.

It is notable that in 2009 when the heavily-armed Taliban entered Pakistan’s towns of Swat, Dir and Buner, American-led high officials and their media had exaggerated the ‘Talibinisation’ of whole Pakistan, while showing concerns about country’s atomic arms. In that context, on April 22, 2009, the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had stated that Taliban “advances pose “an existential threat” to Pakistan, while on April 23, 2009, she had warned that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.

When Pakistan’s armed forces ejected the Taliban insurgents out of these areas—capturing many militants, then, American top officials had admired the capabilities of Pakistan Army.

Likewise, on August 20, 2012, terrorists’ assault on Kamra Airbase Base was successfully foiled by the Pakistan Air Force, but, a baseless report, published in the New York Times on the same day indicated that suspected militants attacked a major Pakistani Air Force base where some of the country’s nuclear weapons were considered to be stored in the early hours of the militants’ attack. The report also presumed—“The base is part of Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile, estimated to include at least 100 warheads.”

The Taliban fighters on August 15, last year entered the Afghan capital Kabul and seized power, taking control of Afghanistan. Earlier, based in Afghanistan, American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad which had well-established their covert networks there were well-penetrated in the terrorist outfits like the AI-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups were using them to weaken Pakistan by arranging the subversive activities in various cities of the country. Now, these foreign entities have also started backing the Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL) to destabilise Pakistan.

While, Pakistan’s armed forces have successfully broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists by the military operations Zarb-e-Azb (Sharp and Cutting strike) and Radd-ul-Fasaad (Elimination of Discord). And top intelligence agency ISI has broken the network of these terrorist groups by capturing several militants, while thwarting a number of terror attempts. Peace has been restored in country’s various regions.

But, in the recent past, terrorist attacks particularly in the province of Balochistan which is central point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) show that the CIA-RAW and Mossad are weakening Pakistan and want to damage the CPEC project which is part of China’s China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) or BRI.  New Delhi and Washington have already opposed the CPEC and OBOR.

It is mentionable that Indian nuclear weapons and their related-material are unprotected, as various cases of smuggling and theft have verified.

In July 1998, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation seized eight kg. of uranium from Arun, an engineer in Chennai, including two other engineers. It was reported that the uranium was stolen from an atomic research center. On November 7, 2000, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) pointed out that Indian police had seized 57 pounds of uranium and arrested two men for illicit trafficking of radioactive material. IAEA pointed out that Indian civil nuclear facilities were vulnerable to thefts.

In this respect, Kashmir Media Service (KMS) News Org pointed out on February 22, 2022: “Frequent incidents of uranium theft in India pose threats of nuclear terrorism as over 200 kilograms of nuclear material have been stolen during the past two decades in India while 2.5 kilograms of unprocessed uranium were caught from two Indian nationals in Nepal just a few days ago. Experts on nuclear safeguards have urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to place strict surveillance system over radio-active materials in India.”

On January 26, 2003, CNN disclosed that Indian company, NEC Engineers Private Ltd. shipped 10 consignments to Iraq, containing highly sensitive equipment including titanium vessels and centrifugal pumps. Indian investigators acknowledged that the company falsified customs documents to get its shipments out of India. On June 12, 2004, Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation, an American company was fined US $ 300,000 for exporting a nuclear component to the Bhaba Atomic Research Center in India.

In December 2005, Indian scientists, Dr. Surendar and Y S R Prasad had been blacklisted by the US due to their involvement in nuclear theft. In December, 2006, a container packed with radioactive material had been stolen from an Indian fortified research atomic facility near Mumbai.

Nonetheless, owing to the collaboration of the Indian officials with smugglers, proliferation of nuclear components and their related-material have continued from time to time.

It is noteworthy that under the pretext of countering China, Washington has continued supporting India’s programme of advancement and modernisation of nuclear weapons.

America also pressurized IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group to grant a waiver to India for obtaining civil nuclear trade on larger scale.

Notably, Islamabad has substantially strengthened its nuclear security in the past two decades with zero incidents of mishap. Terrorist’s organisations do not have any access to Pakistan’s nuclear assets. In this connection, ex-President Obama, American high officers and IAEA officials have acknowledged effective command and control mechanism enforced by Pakistan.

As regards the Russia-Ukraine war, in the recent past, US President Biden accused Beijing of giving aid to Moscow and threatened sanctions against China, but the latter denied.

Recently, tensions escalated between Beijing and Washington when despite the warning of Chinese leaders, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, and President Biden announced support to Taiwan.

Moreover, in countering China’s growing influence as part of the Indo-Pacific strategy, US formed alliances, known as Quad and AUKUS with some countries to protect and defend shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

Besides Quad, Beijing has criticised AUKUS, arguing it “severely undermines regional stability and peace, intensifies arms race and undercuts international non-proliferation efforts.”

China, Russia, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran which are furthering their cooperation and could form a coalition, have urged the world to assist the Afghans, as a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is essential for the stability of the entire region.

Recently, Islamabad sided with Saudi Arabia which has rejected American pressure over the cut in oil supply in international market.

In this backdrop, despite the repeated assurances of Pakistan’s military and civil leadership that country’s nuclear weapons are well-protected, a deliberate propaganda campaign against the safety of these weapons keeps going on particularly by the US, India, Israel and some Western countries.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: [email protected]