US offers nuclear protection to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The United States has offered to teach Pakistan how to protect its nuclear weapons and Pakistan has accepted.

Quoting Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar, Pakistani newspapers reported Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made this offer when he visited Islamabad last month.

According to Sattar, Powell invited Pakistan to send its experts to the United States to "see how Americans protect their weapons."

Asked about Pakistan's response, he said: "Positive offers are not turned down, at least not from friendly countries."

Recent reports in the U.S. media have expressed concerns about the security of Pakistani nuclear weapons. Some reports suggested that Muslim extremists could get these weapons if the ongoing campaign against President Pervez Musharraf gets out of control.

Over a dozen Muslim religious organizations are protesting Musharraf's decision to back U.S military strikes into Afghanistan, urging him to support neighboring Muslim nation's Taliban leaders instead.

Although still small, the rallies have grown bigger since Oct. 7 when the United States launched military strikes into Afghanistan because Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

Quoting official sources, some newspapers reported that the Bush administration was concerned that the agitation may get worse and lead to the collapse of the Musharraf government.

They also reported that U.S. and Israeli special forces were already conducting joint exercises to take out Pakistan's nuclear weapons should the Musharraf government collapse.

Dismissing these reports as "baseless fears," the Pakistani foreign minister assured that Pakistan's "nuclear weapons already are in secure hands."

He said that Pakistan has "a concrete control and command center for its nuclear weapons and nobody except those responsible for their security has access to them."

Earlier this week, Pakistan received unlikely support for its position on this issue. Addressing a seminar in New Delhi, India's Defense Minister George Fernandes said Wednesday that "politics aside, we believe Pakistanis are responsible people and quite capable of defending their nuclear assets."

Both India and Pakistan tested their nuclear devices in May 1998 and since then have been working on various programs to develop control and delivery systems.