Pakistan’s new ballistic missile programme an ‘emerging threat’ to US: White House official

US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s statement pointed out the deteriorated ties between Washington and Islamabad since the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

Eyebrows are also being raised at whether Pakistan has shifted the focus of its nuclear weaponry and ballistic missile programmes which, for the longest of time, have been intended towards countering those of India.

Pakistan has pursued “increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment, that would enable the testing of significantly larger rocket motors”, said Finer while speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

And if these trends continue, then Islamabad will have the capacity to strike targets “well beyond South Asia, including in the US”, Finer added.

Naming Russia, North Korea, and China, the White House official said that the number of nuclear-powered states with missiles that can hit the US “is very small and they tend to be adversarial”.

Therefore, he said, it is difficult for Washington see Pakistan’s action as anything but an “emerging threat to the United States“.

Finer’s remarks come a day after America announced a new round of sanctions in relation to Pakistan’s ballistic missile development programme. In this, for the first time, the US also announced sanctions against the state-run defense agency that oversees the program.

Pakistan had inked its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes against India’s aggression, intended at maintaining stability in the region.

Reuters cited two senior US administration officials, who spoke on anonymity conditions, saying that Washington’s concerns with Pakistan’s missile programmes have been there for a long time, and they have stemmed from the sizes of the rocket engines they have developed.

However, one of the official said, the threat to the United States is almost a decade away. The officials said that Finer’s statements were intended to prompt Pakistani officials to address why they are developing such powerful rocket engines, something they have denied doing.

“They don’t acknowledge our concerns. They tell us we are biased,” said the second U.S. official, dismissing Pakistan’s wrong implication of Washington’s sanctions being intended “to handicap their ability to defend against India”.

Meanwhile, Finer had noted how Washington and Islamabad had been “long-time partners” on development, counter-terrorism, and security. He said that he, along with several other senior US officials, couldn’t get any response for the repeated concerns they raised about the missile programmes with top Pakistan officials.

Their long-time partnership, Finer said, “makes us question even more why Pakistan will be motivated to develop a capability that could be used against us”.

Notably, Pakistan hasn’t hidden its critical view of the ties US President Joe Biden has formed with Islamabad’s rival India.

With Pakistan’s close relations with China, US has also slapped some sanctions on Chinese organisations for supplying Islamabad’s ballistic missile programmes.

Pakistan, which was a key partner in the US’ fight against al-Qaeda following the 9/11 attack on America, had also been a major non-NATO ally since 2004.

However, US-Pakistan ties took a hit after Pakistani military’s coup, its backing for Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule and its nuclear weapons programmes.

Meanwhile, Finer’s move to publicly voice US’ concerns over a development in Pakistan was termed as a “mighty dramatic development” by experts like Michael Kugelman, from the Wilson Center think tank.

(with inputs from Reuters)