Biden calls Pakistan 'one of the most dangerous nations in the world'
US President Joe Biden speaks during an event at the Royal Castle, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Warsaw, Poland March 26, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS
United States President Joe Biden has said that Pakistan may be “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” as the country has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”, it was reported on Saturday.
The US president made the comments while addressing a Democratic congressional campaign committee reception on Thursday.
“And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” Biden was quoted as saying in a transcript of the address, published on the White House’s website.
Biden’s remarks were made with regard to the changing geopolitical situation globally, as he highlighted that the world was changing rapidly, and countries were rethinking their alliances.
“And the truth of the matter is — I genuinely believe this — that the world is looking to us. Not a joke. Even our enemies are looking to us to figure out how we figure this out, what we do,” he added.
Biden maintained that there was “a lot at stake” and that the US had the capacity to lead the world to a place it had never been to before.
“Did any of you ever think you’d have a Russian leader, since the Cuban Missile Crisis, threatening the use of tactical nuclear weapons that would — could only kill three, four thousand people and be limited to make a point?” he questioned.
“Did anybody think we’d be in a situation where China is trying to figure out its role relative to Russia and relative to India and relative to Pakistan?” the US president further added.
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Biden claimed that he had spent “more time with [Chinese President] Xi Jinping than any head of state in the world”. He furthered that his Chinese counterpart was “a guy who understands what he wants but has an enormous, enormous array of problems”.
“How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” Biden said.
He added that there was “a lot going on”, but emphasised that there were “enormous opportunities for the United States to change the dynamic in the second quarter of the 21st century”.
Minister terms statement 'baseless'
In a press conference later today, Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir rejected Biden’s statement and deemed it “baseless”.
“International agencies have not once but several times verified Pakistan’s atomic deterrent and said that our command and control system is secure. It has all the protection that is required,” he maintained.
Several Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, who repeatedly alleged that the US government was behind the ouster of former premier and PTI chief Imran Khan's ouster from government, also condemned Biden's statement.
PTI Secretary General Asad Umar questioned if Biden was talking about the US when he spoke of a nuclear country without cohesion.
"After all his party is going after Donald Trump for trying to subvert the constitution and steal the last presidential election," he added.
Asad maintained that countries in "glass houses" should think before "throwing stones at others".
PTI leader and former information minister Chaudhry Fawad said that it seemed "as if President Biden wants to distract people from his declining reputation among the Americans" by making statements about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
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Fawad added that the Pakistani government may be weak but the Pakistani people were not.
Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari demanded that the US president apologises to the Pakistani nation for his "nasty remarks", which she claimed came because his "regime change conspiracy is faltering".
"A nuclear US is a threat for [the] world because you have no control over your nukes. B52 bomber takes off with 6 live nukes 2007 and no one knows for hours!" she added.
She called the US an "irresponsible superpower with nukes" with a proclivity "to interfere globally with regime change agendas alongside militarising the oceans".
She highlighted that the US was responsible for custodial torture in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram.
"Even your own people are not safe with gunmen going on killing sprees," she added, asking Biden to "have some shame".