WASHINGTON – United States Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coatshas pointed out at Pakistan’s nuclear programme and said that “We remainconcerned about Pakistan’s continued development control of nuclearweapons.”
However there was no mention of India’s nuclear assets or the country’sprogrammes except a brief mention of the nuclear-powered ballistic missilesubmarine, *INS Arihant*, launched last year.
He painted a bleak picture for South Asia in 2019, citing elections inAfghanistan and India, Taliban attacks and what he called Pakistan’s“Pakistan’s recalcitrance in dealing with militant groups”.
While presenting a non-classified threat assessment reportlink beforethe Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he outlined significant globalthreats that the US will face during the year.
The intelligence director predictedlinkthatin 2019, “militant groups in Pakistan will continue to take advantage oftheir safe haven there to plan and conduct attacks in neighbouringcountries and possibly beyond.” The oft-repeated accusation has beencategorically denied by the country’s civilian and military leadership.
The report goes on to allege that Pakistan continues to provide safe havensto terrorists “to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan,including against US interests”, while also accusing Islamabad of “usingsome groups as policy tools and confronting only the militant groups thatdirectly threaten Pakistan”.
It further claims that Pakistan’s “narrow approach to counter-terrorismcooperation […] almost certainly will frustrate US counter-terrorismefforts against the Taliban”.
It is pertinent to note, that the report and the subsequent comments comeat a time when Pakistan is aiding talks between the US and theAfghan Taliban so that a political solution can be found, to what has nowbecome a 17-year long war.
Pakistan’s nuclear programme also got a glaring mention in Coats’ remarks,who said: “We remain concerned about Pakistan’s continued developmentcontrol of nuclear weapons.”
There was no mention of India’s nuclear assets or the country’s programmesexcept a brief mention of the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, *INSArihant*, launched last year.