LAHORE – Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus has said that many terror groups based in the region were eyeing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, India’s NDTV television channel reported.
“There are certainly other elements in Pakistan, the Taliban and several other varieties of elements who generally have symbiotic relationships, the most extreme of which might, indeed, value access to nuclear weapons or other weapons that could cause enormous loss of life,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“There are many groups operating on Pak-Afghan border eyeing weapons of mass destructions,” he added. While the focus of the hearing was the war in Afghanistan, the central theme of the US commanders’ deposition was on threat emanating from “ungoverned areas” of Pakistan.
While assuring the lawmakers that nuclear weapons of Pakistan were for the moment safe and secure, the general said a constant vigil needed to be maintained in the area with vital interests. On the other hand, the Bloomberg quoted the US general as saying that Pakistan was begging to understand the threat from within.
