WASHINGTON, June 17: The United States understands that neither India nor Pakistan is going to roll back its nuclear programme but it is prepared to work with them to prevent further proliferation.
"We realize that both countries will retain their nuclear programmes although we support the nuclear non-proliferation and other treaties," said a senior US official while briefing South Asian journalists in Washington.
The journalists were invited to meet a group of senior US officials to discuss the current situation in South Asia, particularly after the election of a new government in India. The US nuclear policy towards South Asia "according to these officials" hinges on three basic points:
1. India and Pakistan will not accept pressure to roll back their nuclear programmes.
2. Washington will not support any move to admit them into the exclusive nuclear club comprising the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.
3. But the US government will continue to work with them to prevent further proliferation.
The official US nonproliferation policy signals out Iran and North Korea as two states that have violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "by pursuing nuclear weapons programme.
India, Pakistan and Israel are also mentioned as non-NPT states that possess nuclear weapons but are not condemned like Iran or North Korea in the US policy. This distinction was also obvious at the discussion senior US officials had with South Asian journalists who were allowed to report the conversation without naming the officials.
"We want to see an end to all nuclear weapons, and that includes the United States as well. But there is absolute understanding that this is not going to happen today or tomorrow." said one senior official. "We are realistic."
With India, the United States is also willing to cooperate in civilian nuclear "endeavours" but is not yet ready to provide reactors for this purpose. The officials played down the importance of a recent statement by the State Department's policy planning director who wanted all of India's civilian nuclear reactors placed under IAEA control.
"The director's views reflected only one view. It was not the government view," said one official. Asked whether the director's statement implied that without full scope safeguards the United States would refuse to sell nuclear reactors to India, the officials said that in any case, "we are not going to be in a position" to sell nuclear power rectors to India immediately.
"Whether it can be done in the distant future, the officials said, "would depend on a lot of steps being taken by both governments. It involves, among other things, taking steps to improve export controls, their legislation and implementation.
"We are not there yet but you cannot exclude it as a possibility in the distant future," the official added. Towards Pakistan, the United States has a different approach, focused mainly on preventing further proliferation.
It reflects US concerns emanating from the confession in February by Dr. A.Q. Khan that he had headed a group of proliferators who smuggled nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
It is generally believed that the discovery of the so-called Khan network has eroded the US confidence in Pakistan and it has been secretly trying to persuade Pakistan to give up or roll back its nuclear programme.
But at the briefing, US officials dispelled this impression. Expressing satisfaction with the cooperation they received from Pakistan, they emphasized the need for combined international efforts to completely uproot the network.
"There's no doubt in our mind about the cooperation we are receiving from Pakistan," said one official. "But our expectation is "that the government of Pakistan will help us pursue every strand of the network and ensure that it can never reconstitute itself in Pakistan or elsewhere."
Diplomatic observers in Washington say that when confronted with the existence of a secret nuclear network, the US administration had two choices, to seek Pakistan's cooperation in uprooting the network or to indulge in Pakistan bashing and allow the proliferators to escape.
Washington decided to go for the first option, particularly after US and British intelligence officials working on the case reported that a large number of private contractors and sub-contractors were also involved with this network.
