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Shady Panetta points finger at Pak nukes

Dunya News

In yet another venomous statement, Panetta has accused Pakistan of increasing nuclear stockpile.

Addressing a think tank in Washington, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta claimed the US is fighting the war against Al-Qaeda in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with the consent of Pakistani authorities.The US Defence Secretary said that in fact the problems in Afghanistan cannot be eliminated without addressing the issues afflicting Pakistan. As we are vying for a stable Afghanistan, we need a stable Pakistan, he added.Panetta said the Pakistani authorities are helping the US in fighting Al-Qaeda in FATA. However, he added, both countries have differences over contacts with certain militant groups.Irony is Panetta is defence secretary of a country that has most nuclear warheads in the world. According to a report, the US has 5,113 active and inactive nuclear warheads and approximately 3,500 warheads retired and awaiting dismantlement. The 5,113 active and inactive nuclear warhead stockpile includes 1,968 strategic warheads, approximately 500 operational tactical weapons, and approximately 2,645 inactive warheads.Russia comes second with approximately 2,400 operational strategic warheads , approximately 2,000 operational tactical warheads, and approximately 7,000 stockpiled strategic and tactical warheads.Amongst the non-NPT countries, India comes at the top with over 200 nuclear warheads followed by Israel with up to 180 or above nuclear warheads. While Pakistan, the target of Panetta’s statement, has between 70 to 90 nuclear warheads, according to the report of the Arms Control Association.No matter what Pakistan does, it may never come closer to dreaming of crossing the nuclear warheads that the US boasts of. Pakistan has told the world on several occasions that it is a peace-loving country and its armed forces have predicated cooperation in the war on terror on the same principle of global peace. However, the US administration has found a new way of praising Pakistan’s contribution and building mistrust on it in the same breath, as reflected Leon Panetta’s statement.CUT IN AMERICAN DEFENCE SPENDINGS: Separately, Leon Panetta said on Tuesday the US military should expect cuts to personnel, benefits and equipment as the Pentagon makes the difficult choices to reduce security spending by $450 billion.Panetta, in what the Pentagon billed as his first policy address, also called on Congress to be a responsible partner by supporting a defense strategy that might not always include their favorite base or weapons system.We need to build the military force that the country needs but also help ensure that the country maintains its economic strength, Panetta said in a speech to the Woodrow Wilson International Center think tank.Panettas remarks were the most detailed yet elaborating on his views about what the Pentagon will have to do to meet the spending reductions called for in the debt reduction agreement approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in August.That deal calls for $350 billion in cuts over 10 years in comparison to a Congressional Budget Office baseline of projected national security spending. The cuts represent more than $450 billion when measured against the Pentagons own baseline projections.The cutbacks come as the United States is slowly winding down its involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq after a decade of war while seeing growing challenges abroad from rival powers like China and countries with growing nuclear programs like North Korea and Iran.Panetta said the Pentagon would attempt to find $60 billion reductions by streamlining, cutting overhead and eliminating waste and duplication. That figure comes on top of the $150 billion in efficiency savings announced previously by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.Panetta said the Defense Department also would have to deal with rising military personnel costs, which have grown more than 80 percent in the past decade while the level of military employment has grown only 5 percent.He did not say what action would be taken, calling it an area of extreme challenge, because my highest priority is maintaining the vitality of our all-volunteer force – and keeping faith with the men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend the country.Panetta said the overall size of the ground forces would have to be reduced and some procurement would have to be set aside or delayed.We will need to consider accepting reduced levels of modernization in some areas, carefully informed by strategy and rigorous analysis, he said.
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