WASHINGTON, July 28: The US has not consulted Pakistan after the adoption of its nuclear deal with India by the US House of Representatives because it does not believe the development ‘changes the picture’ Islamabad needs to see.
“Not that I’m aware of. No special phone call,” said US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher when asked if Washington had contacted Islamabad since Wednesday when US legislators overwhelmingly approved the deal.
“They’re interested in developments. But we didn’t think this particular step added anything to the consultations we’ve had all along with the government of Pakistan on the substance of these issues,” he said.
Mr Boucher, however, said the separate dialogue that the United States is holding with Pakistan to help meet its energy needs was “going very well” and so were the talks for cooperation in other fields.
He dispelled the impression that the Indo-US deal would enhance a nuclear arms race in South Asia. “We’re quite satisfied that we’re not offering an inducement to an arms race or otherwise encouraging significant expansion of weapons capabilities in this area,” he said.
Asked to comment on a US legislator’s concern that the deal would enable India to produce 50 additional nuclear warheads every year, the US official said there were many reports and analyses on this issue and he had seen some studies suggesting that this will not occur.
Commenting on a recent news report that Pakistan was building a major nuclear reactor in Khushab, Mr Boucher said the US has followed ‘very closely’ developments in strategic capabilities of both India and Pakistan.
He said he has had ‘good discussions’ with people in both the countries on the issue of a nuclear arms race in South Asia.
Mr Boucher acknowledged India and Pakistan continued developing their weapons capability “but we don’t see an acceleration or expansion of what you might call an arms race or a dramatic change shift and shift in the situation coming”.
