Pak continues modernising N-weapons: US
Pakistan is likely to continue to modernise and expand its nuclear capabilities by conducting training with its deployed weapons and developing new delivery systems in 2022 as it perceives it as key to its survival, given India’s nuclear arsenal and conventional force superiority, the Pentagon’s top intelligence official has told lawmakers.
Lt Gen Scott Berrier, director, Defence Intelligence Agency told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a recent Congressional hearing that Pakistan’s tense relationship with India will continue to drive its defence policy.
He said Pakistan “perceives nuclear weapons as key to its national survival, given India’s nuclear arsenal and conventional force superiority”.
“Pakistan very likely will continue to modernise and expand its nuclear capabilities by conducting training with its deployed weapons and developing new delivery systems in 2022,” Berrier said.
“Pakistan’s relations with India remain strained since a high-profile anti-India militant attack in the Union Territory of Kashmir in February 2019,” he said, referring to the Pulwama attack in which 40 Indian paramilitary troopers were killed.
“New Delhi’s August 2019 revocation of Kashmir’s semiautonomous status added to these tensions.
“However, cross-border violence has decreased since February 2021, when both countries recommitted to a ceasefire,” Berrier said, adding, “India and Pakistan have not made meaningful progress towards a longlasting diplomatic solution since then.”
Afghan Taliban is a ‘strategic asset’ for Pak
Pakistan seeks to maintain positive relations with the Taliban as it views the hardline Islamist militant group as a “strategic asset” useful for securing its interests in Afghanistan, Lt Gen Berrier has told US lawmakers.
Lt Gen Berrier told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a recent Congressional hearing that Pakistan currently views instability in Afghanistan as its most pressing concern and will likely prioritise preventing its spillover into Pakistan in the next year and beyond.
“Although Pakistan has not formally recognised the Taliban, Islamabad seeks to maintain positive relations with them, and it is providing humanitarian assistance, international outreach, and technical support to achieve this,” he said.