Pakistan's Nuclear Proliferation Activities and the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission: U.S. Policy Constraints and Options
Abstract
In calling for a clear and long-term commitment to the military-dominated government of Pakistan despite serious concerns about that country's nuclear proliferation activities, The 9/11 Commission cast into sharp relief two long-standing dilemmas concerning U.S. policy towards Pakistan. First, in an often strained security relationship spanning more than 5 decades, U.S. and Pakistani national security objectives have seldom been congruent. Pakistan has viewed the alliance primarily in the context of its rivalry with India, whereas American policy makers have viewed it from the perspective of U.S. global security interests. Second, U.S. nuclear nonproliferation objectives towards Pakistan (and India) repeatedly have been subordinated to other important U.S. goals. During the 1980s, Pakistan exploited its key role as a conduit for aid to the anti-Soviet Afghan mujahidin to avoid U.S. nuclear nonproliferation sanctions and receive some $600 million annually in U.S. military and economic aid. Underscoring Pakistan's different agenda, some of the radical Islamists favored by its military intelligence service later formed the core of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. A crucial U.S. policy challenge is to gain Pakistani cooperation in shutting down the extensive illicit nuclear supplier network established in the 1990s by the self-designated "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadir Khan, which provided nuclear enrichment technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. To date, the Administration appears largely to have acquiesced in Pakistan's refusal to allow access to Khan by U.S. intelligence officials. The 109th Congress has been asked by the Administration to provide some $698 million in military and economic assistance to Pakistan for FY2006. Some Members of Congress have introduced legislation that seeks to make U.S. assistance contingent on Pakistan's cooperation on nuclear proliferation. This report discusses U.S. policy toward Pakistan and issues for Congress.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 24, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA454544
Entities
People
- K. A. Kronstadt
- Richard P. Cronin
- Sharon Squassoni
Organizations
- Library of Congress