WASHINGTON, June 6 — Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is vastly superior to that of rival India, with up to five times the nuclear warheads, say U.S. military and intelligence officials now reassessing the South Asian balance of power. Interviews with senior U.S. officials in the past week revealed the view that Pakistan** not only has more warheads than its longtime adversary, but has far more capability to actually use them**.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS by India and Pakistan in May 1998 caught American intelligence off guard. While U.S. agencies long had known about weapons-development research in both countries, the decision by both to go public with their capabilities shocked policymakers.
Since then, U.S. intelligence and diplomacy has focused on South Asia with a new intensity. Until recently, for instance, Pakistan was considered to have somewhere between 10 and 15 nuclear weapons and India between 25 and 100.
But after two years of intelligence gathering, officials now believe those figures overstate the capabilities of India’s home-grown arsenal and understate those of Pakistan , whose program has relied on generous Chinese assistance. One official said the Pakistanis “are more likely to have those numbers [25 to 100 weapons] than the Indians.”
Perhaps most important, the official said, is that Pakistan appears far more capable than India of delivering nuclear payloads. “I don’t think their [the Indian] program is as advanced as the Paks,” the official said, speaking particularly of ballistic missiles.
Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said longtime assumptions that India had an edge in the South Asian strategic balance of power were questionable, at best.
“Don’t assume that the Pakistani nuclear capability is inferior to the Indians,” said Zinni, the senior U.S. officer responsible for the Middle East and South Asia.
Goto this site and check it out yourself,…There is more to read about,…I just posted highlights only…
thanks a lot for the information, now lets hear what our indian guppies think about it....i hope both countries never have to use these deadly things...because no matter which one has better capabilties...if it is used there will destruction on both sides
yes what a source of pride.. i'd rather we compared GDP's, foreign reserves, trade balance, literacy, life expectancy, poverty, hunger, infant mortality and other meaningful indices than chest thumping about who's got bigger bombs..
even india does not retaliate all the rivers pakistan uses will be contaminated
it is like fetus trying to klll the mother from which it gets nourishment.
oh absolutely right tariq! everybody knows the pakistani uranium has 10 times the molecules as the Indian counterpart; each electron there has 4 protons to duet with and oh yes, each core rod has been personally embossed with "made with pride, so don't you hide - A.Q.Khan"
In future, More wars gonna be fought for natural resources,..than any other issue. India can’t afford to take un-forseen consequencesfor its actions now or in future.It doesn’t mean that India is nice and doing a big favor to Pakistan.
If India had its way in the past,..it would have done something about it,…But with every action comes the reaction in many form…and last option you know already…
