IT is difficult to understand what made President Joe Biden bring up Pakistan’s nuclear programme during a rambling speech at a reception in Los Angeles on Thursday. Speaking to local Democrats about foreign issues and domestic concerns, he mentioned Pakistan twice, first in relation to China, then turning to this country’s nuclear programme and observing that Pakistan is “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” which has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”.

For a major foreign leader, Mr Biden used shockingly undiplomatic language at a public forum. Moreover, his assertion that there exists no cohesion regarding Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is far from the truth. Sadly, these were not even off-the-cuff remarks, and an official White House transcript indicated he meant what he said, eliciting strong reactions from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

Considering the gist of the rest of his comments in LA — focusing on America’s growing and dangerous rivalry with Russia and China — perhaps the comment was a veiled threat at isolating Pakistan if it continued to maintain links with Moscow and Beijing. If so, it would be a repeat of the ‘either you are with us or against us’ ultimatum issued by George W. Bush following 9/11. Whatever his intentions, it was irresponsible of the American president to use bloc politics to make unsubstantiated comments about Pakistan’s nukes.

Situationer: Why is US airing nuclear concerns now?

The fact is that in the recent past, Pakistan-US ties have witnessed a cold phase. The American establishment, chastened by its chaotic exit from Afghanistan, appears bitter towards Pakistan for its own failures in the Afghan theatre. Moreover, Mr Biden’s attitude towards the PTI administration was distant, while Imran Khan’s ‘Cablegate’ conspiracy mantra certainly didn’t help. It was thought that after the PDM government came to power things would improve. But Mr Biden’s latest outburst indicates anything but warmth towards Pakistan.

The truth is that Pakistan’s nukes are in safe hands. While there may have been some apprehensions in past decades regarding the security of the atomic programme, these have long since been addressed; even foreign officials and independent think tanks have endorsed Pakistan’s commitment to nuclear safety. Therefore, Mr Biden’s comments appear to be purely political.

As far as relations with the US are concerned, Pakistan must seek a balance. It should not fall into the trap of becoming a client state, as was the case during the Ayub, Zia and Musharraf years; needlessly seeking confrontation with the US would also not be constructive. Cooperation is needed in areas where the interests of both states converge, while in areas of divergence — such as Russia and China — Washington and Islamabad should agree to disagree.

Lastly, perpetual domestic crises and chaos in the political sphere present an image of weakness that allows others to make grossly inaccurate comments about this country, which is just another reason to address internal inadequacies.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2022