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U.S. Not Ruling Out New Nuke Tests By India, Pakistan
WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. intelligence chiefs warned on Wednesday they could not rule out new nuclear tests by India and Pakistan and pointed to an "unacceptably high" risk of war between the two arch-rivals.
Both India and Pakistan have said they have no need to carry out repeats of their tit-for-tat tests in 1998 which sparked fears of a South Asian nuclear confrontation.
But George Tenet, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said in prepared testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee that an escalation of the race for nuclear superiority on the subcontinent could not be ruled out.
"We still believe there is a good prospect of another round of nuclear tests," said Tenet, who added that India's military superiority over its rival in most areas meant Pakistan was the more reliant on its atomic capability.
"I must report that relations between India and Pakistan remain volatile, making the risk of war between the two nuclear-armed adversaries unacceptably high," Tenet said.
"Their deep seated rivalry, frequent artillery exchanges in Kashmir, and short flight times for nuclear capable ballistic missiles and aircraft all contribute to an unstable nuclear deterrence."
Thomas Fingar, acting assistant secretary of state of intelligence and research agreed with Tenet's assessment.
"Both states have said that they do not need to conduct additional nuclear tests, but another round is possible. If pressures in India prompted another nuclear test, Pakistan has said it will reciprocate," he said in testimony.
The intelligence chiefs said they expected both India and Pakistan to continue tests of ballistic missiles. New Delhi conducted a test on its nuclear-capable Agni-II last month, and the United States is concerned China has been helping Islamabad advance its own missile program.
India triggered shock and outrage when it conducted five nuclear tests in May 1998. Pakistan responded by carrying out six tests of its own.
Tenet's comments follow the recent release of a CIA report, Global Trends 2015.
The warns of the threat of nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan due to the widening strategic and economic gaps between the two countries, a set of circumstances that will overshadow all other regional issues during the next 15 years.
The report goes on to say that India will be the unrivalled power in the region with a large military equipped with nuclear capabilities.
The report further warns that the gap between the military and economic strength of the two countries could be destabilizing for the region.
The report assesses that driving the instability in the region is the fact that India maintains a sizeable advantage over Pakistan in conventional military arms and forces, for which Pakistan can only compensate by building its nuclear forces.
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