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The US Embassy in Islamabad was reacting to a report in the American journal, The Atlantic, which said the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani compound in May had reinforced Islamabad's longstanding fears that Washington could try to dismantle the country's nuclear arsenal.
"The
US government's views have not changed regarding nuclear security in
Pakistan. We have confidence that the government of Pakistan is well
aware of the range of potential threats to its nuclear arsenal and has
accordingly given very high priority to securing its nuclear weapons and
materials effectively," said a statement issued by the US Embassy in
Islamabad on Monday.
"Pakistan
has a professional, highly motivated, and dedicated security force that
fully understands the importance of nuclear security," the statement
said, a day after Pakistan rubbished the US media report.
The
embassy statement noted that US President Barack Obama had declared at
the Nuclear Security Summit in March last year that he felt "confident
about Pakistan's security around its nuclear weapons programmes".
The
statement added that Obama had also said: "But that doesn't mean that
there isn't improvement to make in all of our nuclear security
programmes."
The Pakistan government has already dismissed The Atlantic's report as "pure fiction".
Reacting
to the report's contention that the US had plans to secure Pakistans
nuclear arsenal in the event of any extremist threat, Foreign Office
spokesperson Tehmina Janjua had said no one should "underestimate"
Pakistan's capability to defend its national interests.
The
report was "part of a deliberate propaganda campaign meant to mislead
opinion. The surfacing of such campaigns is not something new. It is
orchestrated by quarters that are inimical to Pakistan," Janjua said. (DD-7.11)
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