Dissecting Biden’s statement

‘What I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion.’

These were the words of US President Joe Biden uttered at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception last week. This was only the second statement Biden made about Pakistan since becoming President. He recently mentioned Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly session in the context of recent floods – something that was welcomed by Pakistan.

However, the latest statement has stirred a great deal of controversy as it is rare that in recent years senior US officials, let alone the President, publically questioned the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

American commentators have also been surprised over Biden’s statement. Observers believe it is true that the US does keenly follow Pakistan’s nuclear programme but all such issues have only been discussed privately or behind closed doors. It is also said the US is overall satisfied with Pakistan’s command and control system governing the nuclear arsenal.

Given the fact that President Biden is given briefings on such matters regularly, his statement cannot be taken lightly; though some observers say it has to be seen in the full context. The focus of his speech at the fundraiser event was on the changing global geopolitical scenario. He spoke at length about Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to use technical nuclear weapons to advance his strategic objectives. One part of the statement no one is talking much about was Biden saying that China is revisiting its relationship with Pakistan, India and Russia. He did not elaborate since Pakistan has a strategic relationship with China. However, in recent months there have been concerns that Beijing is not happy with Islamabad. President Xi is particularly concerned over the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

The statement by Biden comes at a time when there has been a positive momentum in the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and the US. Since the change of government there has been a flurry of engagements between the two countries. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa were recently in Washington while Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was also in the US last week. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also had brief informal interaction with President Biden on the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York last month.

But the latest Biden statement would certainly be seen as a setback as regards the gradual improvement in the relationship. Foreign Minister expressed surprise over Biden’s remarks as the Foreign Office summoned the US Ambassador over the controversy. However, Bilawal insisted that it will not have any negative impact on efforts to reset the bilateral ties.

The Pakistan-US relationship has remained challenging in recent years despite both having compulsions to work together on Afghanistan. Pakistan’s push for seeking cooperation with the US beyond Afghanistan and security has not met with much success. In the long term, the US has no interest in Pakistan other than narrow focus on counterterrorism. The US National Security Strategy paper, launched last week, made no mention of Pakistan for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan has cashed in on Biden’s statement as he has already come down hard on the PDM government. He alleged that under the current government Pakistan’s national security interests are at risk. PTI is also saying that one of the reasons behind Khan’s removal was to stoke instability in the country to an extent where Pakistan has to compromise on its nuclear programme. Therefore, Biden’s untimely and ungainly statement has only made matters worse for the coalition government at least on the domestic front.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2022.

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