US defense secretary: Taliban went too far in Pakistan, won’t gain control of nuclear weapons

September 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements at Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. In an interview with Al-Jazeera TV channel Monday, Gates said the US considered Pakistani arrangements to secure its nuclear arsenal against Islamic terrorists sufficient and adequate.

August 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's nuclear facilities have been attacked three times by home-grown extremists over the past two years, but there is "no waning confidence regarding the safety of the Pakistani nuclear programme", FOX News reported citing a senior US official. Three separate facilities in Pakistan - each of which deals in some part with nuclear activity - have been targeted by extremists, the unnamed official told the news channel confirming a report in West Point's Combating Terrorism Centre Sentinel.

July 28th, 2009 Pakistan unhappy with India's nuclear-powered subISLAMABAD — Pakistan says India's new nuclear-powered submarine is "detrimental" to the region's peace and stability and it will take "appropriate steps" in response. The statement comes amid lingering tensions between the two nuclear powers over last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai that India blames on Pakistani militants.

July 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A leading arms control expert has suggested that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should use her visit to India to "re-establish nuclear restraint and arms control as a top priority for the region". South Asia is as much a nuclear tinderbox as it was a decade ago when Indian and Pakistani-supported forces engaged in a clash that almost triggered a nuclear war, Daryl G.

May 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan is likely supplementing or replacing its current uranium-based nuclear weapon arsenal with plutonium-based weapons that will be more destructive and deliverable, says a US think tank. In the last two weeks, Pakistan has sought to turn the public debate over its nuclear programme into a binary choice between Pakistan expanding its programme and Pakistan modernising its programme, Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said Thursday reacting to a Washington Post report.

May 28th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - About 10,000 security personnel are guarding Pakistans nuclear arsenal and Western fears about the safety of the weapons are unfounded, a senior official has said. Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, director of arms control and disarmament affairs at the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), said that Pakistans command and control structure for the weapons was better than that of many other nuclear-armed states, and many countries had officially acknowledged this, DawnNews reported Thursday.

May 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Chronic political instability in Pakistan and the current offensive against the Taliban has raised fears that Islamabad's strategic nuclear assets could be obtained by terrorists or used by elements in the Pakistani government, US lawmakers have been told. While US and Pakistani officials have expressed confidence in controls over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards, according to a new US Congressional Research Report on "Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and Security Issues." "Some observers fear radical takeover of a government that possesses a nuclear bomb, or proliferation by radical sympathisers within Pakistan's nuclear complex in case of a breakdown of controls," says the report prepared by two non-proliferation experts for US lawmakers.

May 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Stating that Pakistan's nuclear weapon is a "deterrent" against India, the country's top diplomat to the US Saturday expressed willingness to enter into an agreement with New Delhi to phase out all nuclear arms possessed by the two countries. Appearing on US television to make a public appeal to donate aid for the displaced people in the Swat valley, Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussein Haqqani insisted that the nuclear weapons of his country are safe and there should be no concern about their security.

May 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Amid consistent demands from the international community for sharing details of its nuclear establishments, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that no foreign country would be handed over any details in this regard. "We are determined to retain nuclear deterrence at all costs while ensuring foolproof security of our nuclear assets.

May 10th, 2009 Petraeus: Taliban threaten existence of PakistanWASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Central Command says Taliban militants are a "true threat" to the existence of Pakistan.

May 9th, 2009 US troops in Afghanistan won't be sent to PakistanCAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — There are no plans to deploy U.S. ground troops to Pakistan, U.S.

May 8th, 2009 Gates: US troops won't be sent to PakistanCAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says there are no plans to deploy U.S.

May 7th, 2009 KABUL - US Defence Secretary Roberts Gates said here Thursday that the Taliban's reach to 'within dozens of kilometers of Islamabad' served as an alarm to the country, but expressed confidence that there was little chance for the militants to access the country's nuclear weapons. Gates, who was speaking in press conference in the capital Kabul, said that the Taliban in western part of Pakistan had 'overreached' with their recent offensive in a district, which is 'within dozens of kilometres of Islamabad.' 'I think there is very little chance of Taliban in Pakistan achieving a level of success that would give them access to Pakistan's nuclear weapons,' he added, however.

May 4th, 2009 Mullen says he believes Pakistan nukes are secureWASHINGTON — The Pentagon's top military officer said Monday that he is comfortable that Pakistan's nuclear weapons remain secure, but is gravely concerned about Taliban advances there and in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the United States has worked with the Pakistanis to improve the security of their nuclear arsenal and he believes that country's military is focused on keeping them secure.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who served as an adviser in the Clinton and Bush State Departments, has warned that as of now the evolving situation in Pakistan is more acute than Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions. According to David Pollock, the situation in both countries is serious and a matter of grave concern to the international community.