WASHINGTON, March 13: A leading US expert on South Asia has warned that any unilateral US action to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons would be highly counter-productive and could make a bad situation infinitely worse.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who was also a senior advisor to three US presidents on South Asian affairs, was commenting on reports that some in the Bush administration and Congress advocate a pre-emptive strike on Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to prevent religious extremists from accessing these weapons.

“For one thing, it just couldn’t be done. We don’t know where they are, and how we are going to secure them, and secondly, raising the spectre of an American attack on Pakistan only creates a worse situation and legitimately makes Pakistanis wonder about what America’s intentions are,” he said.

“So, it would be one of the most dangerous things the United States could ever do, because it really would make a bad situation even worse.”

Mr Riedel, who played a key role in US-Pakistan negotiations during the Kargil crisis, said instead of considering military actions, the United States should help stabilise the new democratic setup in Pakistan.

An elected civilian government, with oversight over the nuclear weapons programme, is the best possible solution, he added.

Mr Riedel also rejected the possibility of a militant takeover of Pakistan, and consequently a militant control over of the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal, as “a non-issue.”

In an interview to India Abroad newspaper, published on Thursday, Mr Riedel warned: “It is more realistic to be concerned about a weapon or two being spirited away by military personnel sympathetic to the jihadist cause, and passed on by them into a terrorist group.