Pakistan summons US ambassador over Biden's nuclear remarks "nuclear weapons without any cohesion."
Channel: Mediatrack
Date: 2022-10-15

Biden said in a speech that Pakistan has "nuclear weapons without any cohesion." Pakistan's foreign minister then issued a formal summons, known as a demarche, to the US ambassador.
    
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari speaks at a podium at the US Department of State
Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari say concerns over Pakistan's nuclear weapons were not raised when he was in Washington last month

Pakistan demanded an explanation Saturday from US Ambassador Donald Blome after US President Joe Biden referred to the South Asian country as being "maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world."

In a speech Thursday at a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in California, Biden said Pakistan's nuclear stockpile is "without cohesion." The White House later published his remarks on its website, igniting a response in Islamabad.

Pakistan's foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari, said the US ambassador had been summoned over Biden's remarks.

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What has been the reaction in Pakistan?
After Biden spoke, Pakistani Twitter pounced with politicians, retired diplomats and regular people all weighing in on the invective with some of their own.

In Karachi, Bhutto Zardari told reporters that he was "surprised by the remarks of President Biden." He said the concerns were not raised in meetings with officials during his recent visit to Washington.

"If this was such a concern, I imagine it would have been raised with me," Bhutto Zardari noted, adding that Pakistan's nuclear weapons meet "each and every international standard" of security and safety outlined by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He pointed to India and charged that his country's archrival had once mistakenly fired a missile into Pakistan.

Have Biden's words harmed US-Pakistani relations?
Biden's words come at a time when Pakistan and the US are looking to renew their engagement with one another after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan just over a year ago.

Prior to the withdrawal in August 2021, relations had been rocky as the US accused Pakistan's military and intelligence services of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan while at the same time providing the US military with essential logistical access.

Washington is also weary of Pakistan's deepening ties to China. Beijing has offered $54 billion (€55.5 billion) in infrastructure deals as part of the Belt and Road Initiative to Pakistan in exchange for access to the Indian Ocean.