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US can deal with Pakistani nukes in extremists’ hands

* Rice says Musharraf brought Pakistan back from the ‘brink of extremism’

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Dr Condoleezza Rice has indicated that the United States is prepared to deal with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into extremist hands.

Questioned by Senator John Kerry during her confirmation hearing for secretary of state about the possibility of extremists taking control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons if President General Pervez Musharraf were toppled, she said the US was “prepared to try to deal with it”.

Kerry said, “If you were to have a successful coup in Pakistan, you could have, conceivably, nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical Islamic state automatically, overnight. And to the best of my knowledge, in all of the inquiries that I’ve made in the course of the last years, there is now no failsafe procedure in place to guarantee against that weaponry falling into the wrong hands.”

Rice responded, “We have noted this problem and we are prepared to try to deal with it. I would prefer not in open session to talk about this particular issue,” she said.

Pressed on the point, Rice said: “We’re very aware of the problem, senator, and we have had some discussions. But I really would prefer not to discuss that.”

Rice also said Pakistan had come back from the “brink of extremism” over the last five years thanks to Musharraf’s policies in favour of moderate Islam. “And that has given rise to very promising developments, if you think about it, in South Asia, as India and Pakistan start feeling toward a better future. I think in part that’s been fuelled by Pakistan’s unwillingness to be associated with extremism.”

Asked by Kerry about the AQ Khan affair, Rice said what Washington was concerned with was that “we are able to get the information that we need to break up the network”.

“We have not made any deals about what happens with him, but we have been concerned with the Pakistani government to get access to as much information as we possibly can. This is a matter that’s being handled by the Pakistanis. It is not our place to talk about what should or should not happen with the IAEA, and we have not.”

Kerry, who wanted to know about Washington’s own interests and efforts with respect to Dr Khan, was told, “Our own interests are being very well served by the fact that AQ Khan is now off the market, that we are working with the Pakistanis to get information about what he knows; very well served by cooperation on with several other governments about members of his network. Several of them are in custody, some will be prosecuted.”

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