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US explores deal to limit Pakistan's nukes

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Pakistan denies discussing nuclear deal with US

WASHINGTON: Pakistan ramped up its nuclear sabre-rattling ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday, saying its development and deployment of tactical battle field nuclear weapons (or mini-nukes) was only aimed at deterring any conventional Indian attack through New Delhi’s so-called ''Cold Start'' doctrine.In a bold rationalisation of Pakistan’s offensive nuclear posture, the country’s foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhury told Pakistani journalists ahead of the Obama-Sharif meeting that India had moved cantonments to the Pakistan border and created a gap in the conventional capabilities of the two countries through its Cold Start doctrine, and that has forced Pakistan to developed short-range nuclear weapons to deter any possible Indian attack.''Pakistan has built an infrastructure near border areas to launch a quickest response to Indian aggression… usage of such low-yield nuclear weapons would make it difficult for India to launch a war against Pakistan,'' Chaudhury was quoted as saying at a briefing meant only for Pakistani reporters, where the nuclear issue took centerstage.If needed, we can use nuclear weapons, Pak minister saysSome reports from the briefing cited Chaudhury saying tactical nuclear weapons had already been deployed in border areas, even as US officials have been signaling in recent days that Washington would like to roll back Pakistan’s tactical nukes program for a possible civilian nuclear deal that will mainstream Islamabad’s pariah status in the international community because of its ugly proliferation record. US interlocutors have argued that battlefield nukes are vulnerable to a heist by terror groups and rogue commanders with jihadist sympathies.But Chaudhury and other Pakistan officials have rejected any possibility of a deal that seeks to contain Pakistan’s nuclear posture, which they says arises from the country’s existential fears. Many experts have questioned these overwrought qualms considering India has never formally adopted the Cold Start doctrine and has a no-first use of nuclear weapons policy.''Pakistani military planners and front-line soldiers will find battlefield nuclear weapons to be a logistical nightmare. Indeed, the unanticipated challenges that arise with forward deployment and use of tactical nuclear weapons offset the deterrent value these systems are purported to provide,'' warned a recent review by the Stimson Center of Pakistan’s tactical nukes.Jeffrey McCausland, the author of the report, concluded that Pakistan's efforts to develop and produce short-range, nuclear-capable systems – much less deploy them – will seriously undermine deterrence stability and escalation control on the subcontinent.India, on its part, has indicated that use of any nuclear weapon by Pakistan, regardless of its size, will result in massive retaliation that will eviscerate the country. New Delhi also argues that Pakistan uses the nuclear cover to pursue its policy of using terrorism against India.Thanks to such exchanges, the nuclear issue and Pakistan’s status as a terrorism provocateur operating under the nuclear umbrella has taken centerstage during Sharif’s visit, along with recent US allegations that Pakistan continues to foment terrorism in Afghanistan, although the Obama administration attempted to broadbase the agenda for the meeting.''The visit will highlight the enduring nature of the US-Pakistan relationship and provide an opportunity to strengthen our cooperation on issues of mutual concern, including economic growth, trade and investment, clean energy, global health, climate change, nuclear security, counterterrorism, and regional stability,'' the White House said in a statement on Monday.There were other token gestures in town, including a Congressional resolution praising Sharif and his role in Pakistan’s democracy, although the joke in the diplomatic community is that the White House is ''talking to the wrong Sharif.''The reference is to Pakistan’s Army General Raheel Sharif, who is believed to wield the real power behind the civilian façade of Nawas Sharif. Ahead of Nawaz Sharif’s visit, Rizvan Akhtar, the director of Pakistan’s intelligence service ISI, visited Washington to discuss the red lines consequent to US anger about Pakistan’s subversive role in Afghanistan.Sharif, who is flying into the US on a Gulf Stream jet, will be housed in Blair House, opposite the White House, according to Pakistani sources. US President’s typically use Blair House to signal the importance of a guest during a bilateral visit, but it has also been used in the past for a dressing down – as President Bill Clinton did to Nawaz Sharif in the middle of the Kargil war when then Army chief Pervez Musharraf sent him to Washington to sue for peace.Going further back, it was in Blair House that a clueless Benazir Bhutto was shown the nuclear assets built up by the country’s military regime during the Clinton era.Sharif is also expected meet US lawmakers, have business meetings, and speak at a think-tank, following a standard Washington template, although efforts to replicate Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s expansive outreach didn’t work out. In fact, the trip has reportedly been whittled down to three days after Pakistani planners found it hard to work in enough engagements.