US NSA statement on Pakistani Nukes: A shot fire in the air
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WASHINGTON - US National Security Adviser John Bolton has raised concerns over the nuclear safety of Pakistani nuclear weapons.
He was addressing the Federalist Society in Washington DC the other day on the topic of the International Criminal Court’s request for permission to investigate some US defense and intelligence personnel for “alleged war crimes”.
During the question and answer session that followed his speech, a Pakistani journalist asked a question unrelated to the ICC. Instead, he asked about Imran Khan’s election and the suspension of military assistance to Pakistan.
Bolton referred to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Islamabad and said, “He wanted to convey the message that we hoped and expected that Pakistan would cooperate fully in the war against terrorism which they had committed to do.
It was before my time but the Trump administration did not take the decision to cancel a substantial part of the military aid package to Pakistan lightly.
It was done knowing that Pakistan is a nuclear state and the risk that the government could fall into the hands of terrorists who would get control of those nuclear weapons was particularly serious.
But it is a serious problem on the sub-continent and I hope it’s one that the new government of Pakistan addresses because this terrorist threat is a threat, I think, to the majority of the people in Pakistan not to the terrorists and not to the some of their supporters in the military and elsewhere.
It’s a matter of extra-ordinary importance to the United States and one that we hope that the new government addresses”.
