Pakistani Foreign Ministry Mocks Idea US Could Seize Nukes

Officials Dismiss Questions About Safety of Arsenal

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry today issued a statement rejecting claims from the Atlantic Magazine that they were afraid the US might attempt to seize their nuclear weapons, saying that the whole story was “pure fiction.”

The reports came in a Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder article titled “The Ally From Hell,” which condemned Pakistan for hosting Osama bin Laden and accused them of sponsoring “terrorists who attack American troops.”

The article speculates that the US might be planning to steal the nation’s nuclear weapons to prevent them from being stolen by someone else. The Foreign Ministry insisted they should not underestimate Pakistan’s ability to defend itself.

Likewise, officials dismissed the idea that their nuclear arsenal was being handled in an insecure manner, citing reports earlier last week which claimed that Pakistan was moving nuclear weapons in the government equivalent of UPS vans, an idea the Foreign Ministry termed an effort to “mislead opinion.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.