Pakistan: Fears of a nuclear Taliban

Is Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal secure? As emboldened Taliban and al Qaida militants take over large swaths of Pakistan, said David Sanger in The New York Times, fears are growing that the insurgents might seize some of this Muslim nation’s nuclear weapons. The government of Asif Ali Zardari, who is meeting in Washington this week with President Obama, insists that the arsenal—which may total 100 nuclear weapons—is safely under its army’s control. Despite Obama’s public expressions of confidence, said Bryan Bender in The Boston Globe, the White House is worried. Behind the scenes, the administration has asked Pakistan to provide more information about its nukes—and its vast network of nuclear materials, equipment, and scientists. If Pakistan’s political situation deteriorates, say some arms-control experts, what is to stop an insider from selling nuclear materials, secrets, or even a bomb to terrorists? It was not long ago that Pakistan’s leading nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, sold nuclear secrets and materials to Iran and North Korea.

The good news is that “Pakistan is not going to fall to the Taliban tomorrow,” said Trudy Rubin in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The bad news is that the country’s corrupt, divided regime has no coherent strategy for stopping the Taliban’s patient advance. Even as the militants consolidate their hold over the Swat Valley and infiltrate major cities, Islamabad is still settling for half-measures, worrying about the consequences of a full confrontation. With both local and national governments acting tentatively, the Taliban is intimidating the more secular population. Eventually, militants could “bring a nuclear-armed Pakistan to its knees.”

The hard truth, said Karen DeYoung in The Washington Post, is that we have “limited options” in this situation. Anti-American sentiment in Pakistan is high, and if we push Zardari’s prickly government too hard, our frayed relationship could deteriorate further. In the end, said Sabrina Tavernise in The New York Times, only the Pakistanis can decide whether they will reject Islamic militancy. A third of the country’s population is educated, middle-class, and lives in major cities, but two-thirds of the population is desperately poor and lives in rural areas under “conditions that approximate the 13th century.” Under such bitter conditions, fanatical jihadism has some appeal. History shows that “insurgencies can only be stamped out if societies turn against them.” Pakistan will be no exception.

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