United States President Joe Biden expressed the belief that Pakistan may be one of the "most dangerous nations in the world" during an address in California while speaking about the changing global geopolitical situation.
The US president reasoned that he thought so as Pakistan has "nuclear weapons without cohesion".
According to the transcript, available on the White House website, of Biden's address at a democratic congressional campaign committee reception in California, he said:
“… And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”
A senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an unofficial talk with Geo News, called Biden's remarks "unnecessary", saying it is difficult to understand in what context President Biden made the unnecessary remarks.
The official added that several US presidents and the US government have always described the security and controls of Pakistan's nuclear programme as effective and standard.
Biden's allegations against Pakistan's nuclear programme came as he spoke about the aggressive attitudes of China and Russia. "Did anybody think we would be in a situation where China is trying to figure out its role relative to Russia and relative to India and relative to Pakistan," Biden asked.
The US president said that he has spent more time with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping than any other head of state in the world, 68 hours of which was in person.
Referring to Jinping, Biden said that he "understands what he wants but has an enormous array of problems".
"How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion," the US president said, adding that despite a lot going on, the US has a hunk of opportunities to change the dynamic in the second quarter of the 21st century.
Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan — a senior member of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet — termed the US president's statement about Pakistan's nuclear programme "baseless".
While answering a question about President Joe Biden’s comments regarding Pakistan during a press conference today, the former defence minister said, "Pakistan's nuclear command and control system is absolutely safe which has been confirmed by international organisations many times”.
He said that the US president's doubts about Pakistan’s nukes are “completely wrong and the statement is baseless”.
It is difficult to understand the context in which President Biden made these unnecessary remarks, a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said while speaking to Geo News.
He said that several US presidents and the government has always declared the security of Pakistan's nuclear programme and controls effective and according to international standards.
Reacting to the allegation, PTI General Secretary Asad Umar criticised the US president saying that "countries in glass houses should think before throwing stones at others."
He asked if Biden was referring to the US when he said "nuclear country without cohesion".
"After all his party is going after Donald Trump for trying to subvert the constitution and steal the last presidential election," he wrote on Twitter.
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