WASHINGTON: The long-time guardian manager of Pakistan's nuclear assets is maintaining that the country's new battlefield tactical nuclear weapons is serving as a deterrent to war with India, amid growing concerns in Washington that it has actually shortened the fuse because the mini-nukes, which are delegated to field commanders, could fall into rogue hands.
Not going to happen, insisted retired general Khalid Kidwai, custodian and planner of Pakistan's nuclear security and strategy for many years, despite reports within the country that it has had to weed out prospective extremists with "negative tendencies" from its ranks. If anything, he asserted, the tactical nukes, which can be used on battle formations, had deterred India's Cold Start doctrine, which is aimed at a quick punitive military strike in the event of another Mumbai-style operation by Pakistani intelligence.
Skepticism ran deep at a Carnegie Endowment event on nuclear security where Kidwai, who led the administration of Pakistan's nuclear and missile weapons program and now serves as an adviser to the National Command Authority, was grilled about what US analysts believe is a shortening of the nuclear fuse by Pakistan with its Nasr missile, which has a 60-m range. Kidwai insisted that it's development and deployment actually made war less likely because India had had to rethink the Cold Start strategy.
No comments:
Post a Comment