Nina Hjerpset-Østlie Kongressen i USA – og Obama-administrasjonen, er alvorlig bekymret over at Pakistan i en krisetid velger å utvide og trappe opp atomvåpenprogrammet. USA frykter at pengene de sender vil gå til atomvåpen, ikke bekjempelse av terrorister.
Det var under høring i Kongressen sist torsdat at forsvarssjef Mike Mullen fikk et direkte spørsmål: Stemmer det at Pakistan holder på å utvide sitt atomvåpenprogram. Mullen hadde forsvarsminister Robert Gates ved sin side, da han svarte:
«Yes,» he said quickly, adding nothing, clearly cognizant of Pakistan’s sensitivity to any discussion about the country’s nuclear strategy or security.
Inside the Obama administration, some officials say, Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has been a source of growing concern, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents.
The administration’s effort is complicated by the fact that Pakistan is producing an unknown amount of new bomb-grade uranium and, once a series of new reactors is completed, bomb-grade plutonium for a new generation of weapons. President Obama has called for passage of a treaty that would stop all nations from producing more fissile material — the hardest part of making a nuclear weapon — but so far has said nothing in public about Pakistan’s activities.
Bruce Riedel, the Brookings Institution scholar who served as the co-author of Mr. Obama’s review of Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, reflected the administration’s concern in a recent interview, saying that Pakistan «has more terrorists per square mile than anyplace else on earth, and it has a nuclear weapons program that is growing faster than anyplace else on earth.»
USA har lovet 7,6 milliard dollar i sivil bistand. På toppen av det kommer 3 milliarder dollar til opplæring av poiliti og hærstyrker i antiterrorarbeid.
Amerikanerne frykter at pengene kan bli kanalisert til atomvåpen i stedet.
Det sier noe om hva pakistanerne virkelig vil: hvis de ikke vil bekjempe Taliban, hjelper det ikke å overøse dem med penger, sa Carl Levin, demokrat i Senatet.
Similar concerns about seeking guarantees that American military assistance to Pakistan would be focused on battling insurgents also were expressed by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman.
«Unless Pakistan’s leaders commit, in deeds and words, their country’s armed forces and security personnel to eliminating the threat from militant extremists, and unless they make it clear that they are doing so, for the sake of their own future, then no amount of assistance will be effective,» Mr. Levin said.
