US fears terrorists could take control of Pak nukes
National Security Adviser Bolton says administration did not make funding cut decision lightly
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration’s decision to suspend security-related aid to Pakistan took into account concerns that terrorists could take control of the country’s nuclear weapons, US National Security Adviser John Bolton has said.
“The Trump administration did not take the decision to cancel a substantial part of the military aid package to Pakistan lightly,” Bolton said in response to a question at an event at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies on Monday.
“It was done knowing fully well that Pakistan is a nuclear weapons state and the risk that the government could fall into the hands of terrorists who could get control of those nuclear weapons was particularly serious.”
It was not immediately clear whether Bolton was referring to a specific threat or information of a terrorist takeover or it was a concern that has been generally around for years.
This was the first time a senior member of the Trump administration has linked the suspension of nearly $2 billion in security-related aid to concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. It was earlier attributed to Islamabad’s failure to act decisively against terrorists operating from its soil.
President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of providing only “lies and deceit” in exchange for $33 billion over the years and ordered the cancellation of the security aid in January. The US also cancelled a payment of $300 million from the Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan for failing to act against terror groups.
There was no response from the White House, where the National Security Council headed by Bolton is based, to a request for comment about Bolton’s explanation of the administration’s reasons for writing off an ally.
Bolton qualified his remarks at the event, saying in advance that the cancellation of aid was before his time. HR McMaster was NSA at the time.
He seemed somewhat unprepared for a question on Pakistan at the event about the US threatening the International Criminal Court and its judges with sanctions if an investigation was launched by it into America’s wartime actions in Afghanistan.
Asked about US plans to work with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s new government in Pakistan, Bolton referred to secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Islamabad and said the US had delivered a message that “we hoped and expected that Pakistan would cooperate fully on the war against terrorism which they committed to do”.
Action against terrorists is a matter of “extraordinary importance to the US”, Bolton said, adding: “It’s a serious problem on the subcontinent and I hope it’s one that the new government of Pakistan addresses, because this terrorist threat is a threat…to…the people in Pakistan, not to the terrorists and not to some of their supporters in the military and elsewhere.” Pompeo repeated the message from across the border in New Delhi.