It is important to keep in mind that Pakistan is a nuclear-armed ally of the US, but that relationship has long caused US officials to feel extremely uneasy. The US is now targeting Pakistan’s nukes related to Russia sanctions.
The Biden administration has produced a sanctions blacklist of two dozen firms and other organizations that are alleged to have breached Iran sanctions as well as to have supported Russia militarily. The 24 companies also include organizations accused of illegal actions connected to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, which is perhaps most startling of all.
The US Commerce Department named companies with headquarters in Singapore, Switzerland, Latvia, Pakistan, and Russia, including AO Kraftway Corporation, one of Russia’s major IT firms.
As per a press release, the list includes Fiber Optic Solutions in Latvia as well as Russian AO Scientific Research Center for Electronic Computing, LLC Fibersense, and Scientific Production Company Optolin, AO PKK Milandr; Milandr EK; Milandr ICC JSC; Milur IS; Microelectronic Production Complex (MPK) Milandr; and Ruselectronics JSC and Swiss based Milur SA.
Regarding the sanctions against Iran, “The Commerce Department also added four trading and supply companies in Singapore for supplying or attempting to supply an Iranian electronics company, Pardazan System Namad Arman,” which according to Reuters was the target of US Treasury sanctions in 2018 after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.
Although sanctions on Russia and Iran have been standard practice in Washington over the recent months, the Pakistan-related development is what is most intriguing. According to Reuters:
The Biden administration also added 10 companies in Pakistan and UAE that it says pose unacceptable risks of using or diverting items for Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear activities or are involved Pakistan’s “nuclear activities and missile proliferation-related activities.”
It is important to keep in mind that Pakistan is a nuclear-armed ally of the US, but that relationship has long caused US officials to feel extremely uneasy due to the terrifying threat of nukes “falling into the wrong hands.” In fact, some of the most infamous Islamic terrorist organizations in the world have long maintained a sizable presence in Pakistan, particularly near the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Following the Taliban’s reoccupation of Kabul in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from the nation, the Brookings Institution issued the following warning:
The president will not have to look too far. Bordering Afghanistan, now again under Taliban rule, is Pakistan, one of America’s oddest “allies.” Governed by a shaky coalition of ineffective politicians and trained military leaders trying desperately to contain the challenge of domestic terrorism, Pakistan may be the best definition yet of a highly combustible threat that, if left unchecked, might lead to the nightmare of nightmares: jihadis taking control of a nuclear weapons arsenal of something in the neighborhood of 200 warheads.
The above-mentioned unpredictability of Pakistan’s political and security landscape appears to have influenced Wednesday’s new US Commerce sanctions. Pakistan presently has the world’s sixth-largest nuclear arsenal.
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