As the U.S.-Afghanistan-Pakistan presidential summit concludes it’s worth noting that we have heard a lot of talk about fighting the Taliban, fighting corruption, increasing aid for development, and promoting trade between the two countries, but there is one important issue that has not been discussed at the summit: the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The New York Times asks: As the Pakistani military launched a new offensive against the Taliban in the country’s North-West Frontier Province, officials and former officials in Washington continued to discuss what the American response should be to the heightened conflict. How should the United States respond? And how secure are Pakistan’s nuclear weapons? To answer this question they have assembled a team of experts who offer their commentary and analysis. The experts (six in all) come from all sides of the political spectrum, from Michael E. O’Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, to Danielle Pletka, at the American Enterprise Institute, with solutions ranging from closer collaboration between the U.S. and Pakistan to a preemptive American military response to remove the threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the Taliban or Al Qaeda.
Photo: The New York Times (Inter Services Public Relations/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
