“The buildup is remarkable,” Institute for Science and International Security analyst Paul Brannan said. “And that nobody in the U.S. or in the Pakistani government says anything about this — especially in this day and age — is perplexing” (Andrew Bast, Newsweek, May 15).
In an analysis issued on Monday, Brannan and ISIS head David Albright stated that the precise pace of construction of the fourth reactor relative to the other Khushab reactors cannot yet be determined from the images — though construction has progressed significantly since January 15, 2011.”
The organization said that construction of the third reactor at Khushab had proceeded more quickly than the second plant. “It may be building the fourth reactor quicker than the third one. Nonetheless, the fourth reactor will likely take a few years to complete,” the report says.
The organization called on Washington to demand that Islamabad stop building additional reactors at the installation (Institute for Science and International Security release, May 16).
Islamabad’s nuclear buildup has raised worries about a competition for strategic superiority in South Asia. Some U.S. intelligence analyses project that Pakistan holds no fewer than 90 deployed nuclear weapons and potentially in excess of 110, which would outnumber those nuclear arms held by longtime rival India.
“You’re talking about Pakistan even eventually passing France at some point. That’s extraordinary,” former U.S. Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman told Newsweek.
France presently has the fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, behind the United States, Russia and China (see GSN, Feb. 1).
The secret U.S. commando raid into Pakistan earlier this month that resulted in the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has again raised fears that the South Asian nation’s military is not up to the task of guarding its nuclear arsenal from foreign governments or extremists (see GSN, May 11).
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