Why USA Overlooks Pakistan’s Nuclear Plans?

In the annals of diplomacy, and now the war-on-terror, the USA’s continued overlooking of Pakistan’s dangerous role in proliferating nuclear arms within the country, and among rogue states, would remain a great mystery. A recent MSNBC report details more alarming news.

“Without any public U.S. reproach, Pakistan is building two of the developing world’s largest plutonium production reactors, which experts say could lead to improvements in the quantity and quality of the country’s nuclear arsenal, now estimated at 60 to 80 weapons.

“On the dusty plain 110 miles southwest of Islamabad, not far from an area controlled by the Taliban, two large new structures are rising, structures that in light of Pakistan’s internal troubles must be considered ominous for the stability of South Asia and, for that matter, the world.

” ‘Pakistan is really the only country rapidly building up its nuclear forces,’ says a U.S. intelligence official. Moreover, he and other U.S. officials say, there long have been concerns about those who run the facility where the reactors are being built near the town of Khushab.

“They note that a month before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Khushab’s former director met with Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and offered a nuclear weapons tutorial around an Afghanistan campfire.

“Then there are the billions in U.S. economic and military aid that have permitted Pakistan’s military to divert resources to nuclear and other weapons projects.” More here…

Now some important questions? Why did USA kept silent for years when Abdul Qadeer Khan, described as Father of Pakistan Nuclear bomb, pedalled nuclear technology to rogue states (with open support from Pakistan government).

In 2004 Qadeer Khan admitted to hawking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. (See here…)

For my earlier post on Abdul Qadeer Khan please click here…

Is the USA silent because taking on Pakistan on this issue would endanger its delicate relationship with China, which has supplied the nuclear technology to Pakistan? Are there business interests within the USA that gain from proliferation of nuclear arms?

What are the implications of all this with the Taliban gaining ground?

Latest reports suggest that there is a looming refugee crisis in Pakistan. Thousands of families have begun fleeing from an army offensive against Taliban militants in the Shamuzai area of Pakistan’s Swat Valley yesterday. More than half a million refugees have been registered, reports The Independent.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are pouring out of Swat and the surrounding neighbourhoods as the military and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari – under intense pressure from Washington – move to drive the Taliban out from what, until two years ago, was a largely peaceful region.

“Aid officials say that at this point, the overwhelming majority of the displaced – 428,789 of the 510,496 registered by the authorities since 2 May – are staying with relatives or friends or else in rented rooms.” More here…

Meanwhile in Afghanistan there are no indications that Obama administration would leave the suicidal path which the Bush administration had been following. Obama administration seems to be opting for cosmetic changes. (See here…)