Pakistan has been sore about the nuclear recognition given to India by the United States and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
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USA officials now hope to see whether Islamabad might accept a few curbs on its arsenal in exchange for US steps to open the way for greater nuclear cooperation and, eventually, finding a way for Pakistan to seek membership in the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, or NSG, which controls the exports and transfer of nuclear materials, experts familiar with the talks said. Consider, for instance, the following remark of a senior Indian commentator on the potential U.S.-Pak deal: “it will show how hollow is the strategic relationship between India and the USA, and why it would not be wise to trust the U.S. The India-U.S. nuclear deal will be eroded of much of its strategic importance bilaterally as result”.
“And we certainly will play a role in encouraging those countries and those actors in the region to encourage to use their influence with the Taliban to encourage them to pursue and engage in these reconciliation talks”, he said.
The talks being held forward of Sharif arrival “concentrate on American concern that Pakistan may be on the verge of deploying a small tactical nuclear weapon. that might be far more durable to safe than the nation’s arsenal of bigger weapons”, it stated. In this it has been aided by sundry Western non-proliferation experts who believe that the USA could have struck a harder nuclear bargain with India, and not having done that, a compensatory move would be a nuclear deal with Pakistan.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has said that US President Barack Obama and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would not sign any nuclear deal but would discuss nuclear issue during their meeting next week. First is the hackneyed argument that overstates the importance of Pakistan in maintaining stability in Afghanistan. “And I would anticipate that that dialogue would include conversations between the leaders of our two countries”.
It remains unclear what types of guarantees the Pakistanis might provide in exchange for US support in entering the NSG, the official said.
American officials have told Congress they are increasingly convinced that most of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is under good safeguards, with warheads separated from delivery vehicles and a series of measures in place to guard against unauthorised use. He would certainly like to add another feather to his cap after the Iran deal by getting Mr Sharif to agree on restricting his country’s nuclear programme, which is often described as the fastest growing in the world. Pakistan is considered unlikely to accept limits on its program knowing that India has secured a deal without limits, experts said. Pakistan insisting on parity with India might make the negotiations extremely demanding.
Second, it is in India’s interest to ensure that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is under global safeguards, if not control.
The paper said the administration was also seeking to prevent Pakistan deploying missiles that could reach beyond its main foe India, and was thus exploring a possible deal to limit the Pakistani arsenal that could involve relaxing restrictions on access to nuclear technology.
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Adam Entous and Saeed Shah contributed to this article.
