Browsing by Subject "Nuclear non-proliferation"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
The Carter administration’s Pakistan policy before and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
(2020-10) Soomro, Marium
The United States and Pakistan’s bilateral relationship has seen complex periods of converging and diverging interests that have been shaped by security concerns. The first two years of the Carter administration’s relations with Pakistan saw a divergence of interests primarily due to the United States’ pursuit of its nuclear non-proliferation foreign policy. This study uses archival material to analyze the diplomatic and political discourse which unfolded in Washington D.C. and Islamabad during the enforcement of this policy. The study underlines that policymakers are at times divorced from the experiences of diplomats on ground and highlights the complexity behind state craft, the art of diplomacy and the geopolitical and the geostrategic contours of the United States and Pakistan’s bilateral relationship. The Carter administration’s Pakistan policy vis-à-vis nuclear nonproliferation was only side stepped after a number of external factors in the form of regional events took place. These included, the Iranian revolution, the siege of Mecca, the rise in politicized Islam, the impact these events had on the domestic public opinions of both nations and last but not least, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The multiple security implications of all these events led President Carter to build the foundation for the alliance with Pakistan which would succeed in driving the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan.
Open Access
The United States’ nuclear non-proliferation failure in the 1970s: the cases of India and Pakistan
(2021-08) Hussain, Umer
During the 1970s, the US government started becoming increasingly wary of the dangers of nuclear proliferation. The absence of a well-functioning international regime of non-proliferation compounded the United States’ fears of a world in which multiple nations outside their sphere of inﬂuence could acquire nuclear weapons. In this thesis, I explore the cases of two South Asian nations, India and Pakistan. The Indian peaceful nuclear explosion of 1974 was the result of a relatively low priority given to non-proliferation by the US. It took the US and the world by surprise and India’s accession to the ranks of the nuclear powers led to a rethinking of US nuclear non-proliferation policy. India’s 1974 explosion also paved the way for the acceleration of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. Pakistan’s nuclear policy was shaped out of a perceived existential threat and possibility of nuclear blackmail that it faced from India. After several failed attempts to secure security guarantees from the US, Pakistan disregarded the international non-proliferation regime to try to maintain parity with India. The US government’s decision not to commit itself fully to Pakistan’s security was what ended up undercutting its broader non-proliferation goals by making it seem an unreliable ally to Pakistan.