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French envoy warns on Pakistan nukes
Paris (AFP) May 7, 2009 France's special envoy to Pakistan painted a grim picture Thursday of a country collapsing under pressure from Islamist rebels which could one day seize control of its nuclear arsenal. "Today the Taliban are making progress not just in Afghanistan but in the Pakistani interior itself, and at the end of this road there's a stock of nuclear weapons," Pierre Lellouche told Europe 1 radio. Lellouche is President Nicolas Sarkozy's representative dealing with the conflicts in Afghanistan, where French forces form part of a NATO force, and in Pakistan, where the government is struggling to deal with the Taliban. "They are nibbling away and fear is settling into people's hearts," he said, describing the advance of Taliban guerrillas into districts just north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, which Lellouche visited recently. "We shouldn't think of columns of Taliban descending on the capital. It's more complicated than that. We are seeing the rampant Talibanisation of areas close to the capital, a mental Talibanisation," he warned. "They are closing schools and sports halls in Islamabad itself, even those used by foreign diplomats," he said, adding that in Taliban areas "women are whipped in the streets. There has been violence and even deaths." Nuclear-armed Pakistan insists there is no danger of its arsenal falling into the hands of the militants, but the French warning reflects concern in other Western capitals, including Washington. Lellouche will discuss the crisis on Monday with his US equivalent Richard Holbrooke and the French and US foreign ministers Bernard Kouchner and Hillary Clinton in New York during a meeting of the UN Security Council. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Obama and Hu discuss North Korea, Pakistan
Washington (AFP) May 6, 2009President Barack Obama spoke Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and shared his "concerns" over security issues including North Korea's nuclear program and deteriorating conditions in Pakistan, the White House said. |
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