US lobbied to stop 1970s Pakistan nuke drive: Declassified documents

Washington, July 28 (ANI): The United States had waged a secret diplomatic campaign in the 1970s to prevent Pakistan from developing nuclear weapons, by pressing countries to control exports, according to declassified documents.

In remarks with striking parallels to current US debates, President Jimmy Carter's administration had voiced fear about Pakistan's trajectory and tried both pressure and aid incentives to seek a change in its behaviour.

In a secret November 1978 memo, the then Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, instructed the US diplomats in Western Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan to warn their governments that Pakistan or its covert agents were seeking nuclear material.

But he voiced alarm that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, before being deposed as Pakistan Prime Minister in a coup, said that the country would share nuclear weapons around the Islamic world. We believe it is critical to stability in the region and to our non-proliferation objectives to inhibit Pakistan from moving closer to the threshold of nuclear explosive capability," the Daily Times quoted Vance, as saying.

Vance had said Britain was waging a parallel campaign and that the country banned the export of inverters, which could be used in centrifuges, that produce highly enriched uranium and urged other countries to follow suit.

The declassified documents were released after requests by the National Security Archive at George Washington University and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

A National Security Archive scholar, William Burr said the 1978 US report that could shed light on Khan's activities, was missing and that he feared it had been destroyed.

The released documents said Pakistan wanted to maintain work on a reprocessing plant.

The US eventually pursued a major assistance package for Pakistan as part of a partnership against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

The US later cut aid due to nuclear concerns only to resume it again as it sought Pakistan's cooperation in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks. (ANI)