Are Pakistan’s nuclear weapons safe?

Tue, 30 Oct 2001 09:00:00 +0000

Of all the worst-case scenarios that could result if U.S. military involvement in Central Asia spirals out of control, one of the most nightmarish is the possibility that Pakistani Gen. Pervez Musharraf loses his grip on power, and the country's nuclear weapons fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.

On Monday, the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reported that American special forces are prepared to sneak into Pakistan and disarm its nuclear weapons in the event that the conflict in Afghanistan destabilizes Musharraf's government.

"The hunt for Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network has evolved into a regional crisis that has put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at risk, exacerbated the instability of the government of General Pervez Musharraf, and raised the possibility of a nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India," Hersh writes. "An ilite Pentagon undercover unit -- trained to slip into foreign countries and find suspected nuclear weapons and disarm them if necessary -- has explored plans for an operation inside Pakistan." he writes.

Behind Musharraf’s military shuffle

Tue, 09 Oct 2001 23:05:00 +0000

President Pervez Musharraf's decision to replace the chief of Pakistan's military intelligence agency and demote key military leaders could herald a significant step away from Afghanistan's Taliban regime, experts say.

Coming on the eve of U.S. and British attacks on Afghanistan, the moves are being widely interpreted as a sign that Musharraf plans to use the global conflict to squelch Islamic militants in his country and strengthen his own secular government.

"This really shows the Islamic militants that the guys who have the guns do not like them," says Stephen Cohen, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Any question of an Islamic coup within the army is ruled out now, I think. There were some officers who favored more radical Islam, or at least wanted to use it to hold on to power. Now many of them are gone."

Musharraf announced the resignations of both the chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmad, and Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Muzaffar Usmani. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Mohammad Aziz Khan has essentially been kicked upstairs, removed from the powerful position of corps commander and appointed to the ceremonial position of head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

Salon.com > Nadeem Iqbal

Are Pakistan’s nuclear weapons safe?

Behind Musharraf’s military shuffle