Pakistan is not going to acquire a nuclear deal with the United States similar to India’s in a hurry, but the mood music coming out of Washington is an indication of the light years the two countries have travelled since the days the world sat agog soaking in details of the amazing nuclear arms bazar that A.Q. Khan had opened for business. That the US is now willing “to listen” to Pakistan’s plea and, in the US secretary of state, Ms Hillary Clinton’s words, “going to be considering it”, is a warning signal to India of the storms ahead in the Indo-US strategic partnership.
The United States chose to turn a blind eye to Pakistan’s efforts to secure a nuclear weapon in the 1980s because Islamabad was helping chase the Soviets out of Afghanistan. And the US was later prepared to buy the fiction that the Khan business venture in nuclear weapons was a one-man enterprise. Fast forward to 2010: it is now willing to humour Pakistan to consider its request for breaching the international nuclear regime in a first Cabinet-level strategic dialogue with Islamabad.
Read Full Article »