The Taliban have no plans to attack Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, their spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.
A larger assault earlier this week by the Taliban on a naval base in Karachi renewed fears that Pakistan’s sizable nuclear arsenal could be vulnerable.
Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, dismissed those concerns on Wednesday as America’s “excuse” to pressure Pakistan’s government into fighting the Taliban, who he portrayed as the country’s true protectors.
“Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power state,” Ehsan said in a telephonic interview, adding that the Taliban had no intention of changing that fact. He mocked Pakistan’s willingness to work with the US, saying, “Isn’t it a shame for us to have the bomb, and even then we are bowing down to the pressures of America.”
Following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Taliban offered to fight against India alongside Pakistan’s army in the event of war. Still, it was impossible to judge the sincerity of Ehsan’s declaration regarding Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
Even if the Pakistani Taliban have no designs on the arms, there are myriad groups which are believed to have interest in acquiring nuclear weapons.
