Pakistan Boosts Nuke Program Amid Regional Tension

[sonicboom]

Pakistan Boosts Nuke Program Amid Regional Tension

Joseph Schuman

(Oct. 6) -- Pakistan has ramped up construction of a nuclear reactor supporting its atomic weapons program, according to an analysis of new satellite imagery of the site.

The development comes amid heightened tension with Washington over Pakistan's commitment to fighting the Taliban.

A photo of the Khushab military nuclear site, in Punjab about 100 miles northwest of Lahore and about the same distance from the Afghan border, shows construction of the third heavy water reactor there is progressing more quickly than earlier reactor projects, according to the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based group that tracks nuclear proliferation. The image, obtained by ISIS from DigitalGlobe, is dated Sept. 9 and was made public Tuesday.

The apparent completion of cooling towers at Khushab shows the reactor is more than a year ahead of schedule compared with the last reactor constructed at the site, according to Paul Brannan, a senior researcher at ISIS who specializes in the international nuclear black market and analysis of satellite imagery.

The Khushab reactors process plutonium, and Pakistan is believed to have accelerated its plutonium production to create a new generation of plutonium-based thermonuclear weapons that are smaller, lighter and more powerful than its current arsenal, according to ISIS. ISIS reported last year that Pakistan appears to have expanded its plutonium separation capability at facilities in Rawalpindi, north of Khushab, to handle the increase in spent plutonium fuel from the new reactors.

U.S. officials' biggest fear about Pakistan is the prospect that through theft or government downfall the country's nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of the Taliban or its anti-government allies, which appear to have support within the Pakistani military. Pakistan's nuclear program has also been a major source of friction between Washington and Islamabad in the past, especially following revelations that A.Q. Khan, founder of the Pakistani program, had helped Iran and other U.S. enemies advance their atomic weaponry ambitions.

But more pressing on the U.S. agenda in the region is Pakistan's stuttering commitment to fighting the Islamic insurgency within its own borders and to helping in the fight against the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.

In the latest alarming incident, gunmen today attacked and set fire to 25 tankers in western Pakistan carrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, The Associated Press reports. The attack, claimed by Taliban militants, was the sixth against stalled NATO supply convoys since Pakistan closed a crucial border crossing last week following a NATO helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan has also bridled at the recently expanded U.S. use of drones to attack suspected terrorists and militants in Pakistan.

The police chief in Quetta, Malik Muhammad Iqbal, told The New York Times it wasn't the Pakistani government's responsibility to keep the convoys safe.

Meanwhile, a classified White House assessment of the situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan bluntly states that the Pakistani government and military aren't willing to take action against al-Qaida and its allies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Sponsored LinksThe report, mandated by Congress and coming two months before the Obama administration plans to formally review its war strategy, expresses U.S. frustration at the prospects of undermining the Taliban's ability to use Pakistan as a staging ground for its fight in Afghanistan.

Though the White House didn't release the report, it did make public the letter President Barack Obama sent to Congress accompanying the assessment. That letter makes no mention of the vexation in the report and says that the appointment of a new commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, is the only significant strategic change since the administration's last formal report to Congress on the matter.

"We are continuing to implement the policy as described in December and do not believe further adjustments are required at this time," Obama wrote.

Pakistan Boosts Nuke Program Amid Rising Regional Tension