Pakistan’s application for NSG to be decided by consensus: US

ANWAR IQBAL in Dawn, May 29th, 2016
WASHINGTON: The United States, while acknowledging Pakistan’s application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), has said that the request will be decided by a consensus.

Last week, Pakistan submitted a formal application in Vienna for joining the NSG. “The decision to seek participation in the export control regime reflects Pakistan’s strong support for international efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery,” said a statement issued in Islamabad.

Asked to comment on Pakistan’s request, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: “They have made public their interest, and certainly any country can submit its application for membership. And we’ll consider [it] based on a consensus decision.”

Founded in response to the Indian nuclear test in May 1974, the 48-member NSG seeks to reduce proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of nuclear materials.

Although Indian nuclear tests caused the concerned nations to form this body, now India too wants to join the NSG, as it believes that this would lead to its recognition as a nuclear power.

NSG members are meeting in South Korea next month to discuss India’s request for entry and other issues but Mr Toner said at his news briefing on Friday that this meeting had not been called to discuss India’s membership, although this was one of the issues that might come up.

A key US Senator, Ed Markey, has warned that enabling India to join the NSG would cause a “never-ending” nuclear race in South Asia.

“What you are doing is creating an action-reaction that is leading to a never-ending escalation cycle that ultimately leads to development of nuclear weapons, including battlefield nuclear weapons,” Senator Markey said.

“Making these exemptions further infuriates Pakistan into further expanding its nuclear capacity. It is a very dangerous long-term trend, especially when we are so concerned on the spectre of nuclear weapons falling in the hands of non-state actors,” he cautioned.

But the State Department disregarded his concerns.

“This is not about an arms race and it’s not about nuclear weapons. This is about the peaceful civil use of nuclear energy, and so we would certainly hope that Pakistan understands that,” Mr Toner said.

The US official explained that deliberations about the prospects of new members joining the NSG were an internal matter among the current members.

Asked if he believed the US had been able to “generate a consensus” within the NSG in India’s favour, Mr Toner said: “All I can say is that during his visit to India in 2015, President Obama did affirm the US view that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for membership. But it’s a consensus body, so we’ll wait and see how the vote goes.”

China, which is a member of the NSG, has blocked India’s entry.

On May 13, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in Beijing said that several other NSG members were supporting its move to block India.

Mr Lu said that there were many within the group who felt that signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was the cornerstone for safeguarding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and India had not signed this treaty yet. Senator Markey had also stressed this point while opposing India’s application for the NSG.

Asked about reports that China was pushing Pakistan’s entry into NSG linking it to India’s admission into the bloc, Mr Lu said that NSG was an important part of NPT and this issue should be settled first, before opening the door to other members.

During a visit to China earlier this week, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee told Chinese leaders that India should be allowed entry into the NSG on the basis of its own credentials and should not be linked to Pakistan in any way.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1261318/pakistans-application-for-nsg-to-be-decided-by-consensus-us

US tells Pakistan to go after Taliban leaders: by Special Correspondent in The Nation, May 29, 2016
WASHINGTON – The United States has stepped its calls on Pakistan to combat terrorists especially the Taliban leadership, following the killing of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour by a drone strike in Balochistan.

The latest call for action came after a Pakistani television correspondent asked a US State Department spokesman at the daily press briefing whether the United States would help Pakistan locate TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah, who is reported to be somewhere in Afghanistan.

“We continue to cooperate closely with Afghanistan, but also urge Pakistan to go after terrorists, especially Taliban leadership, and that cooperation continues,” Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Friday.

Meanwhile, a former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said the drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour inside Pakistan should send a signal that the United States will not tolerate terrorist safe havens.

“I hope that this is the beginning of a message that we will not tolerate any more the strategic challenge that is posed by the leadership of the Taliban being in Pakistan and having a safe haven there,” Cunningham, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center,” was quoted as saying in a media interview.

“To really get to a peace discussion [in Afghanistan], the Taliban have to come to the conclusion that the option of military force and terror will not get them back to the establishment of the emirate, which is what they want,” he said. “In order for that to happen, the status quo needs to be disrupted and that means we need to find a way to impact the safe havens in Pakistan.”

“It has become increasingly clear that if the status quo remains it will be exceedingly difficult to make progress, both in terms of the security situation and in terms of actually getting the Taliban leadership to a serious negotiation,” said Cunningham. “It is not enough just to get [the Taliban] to sit at a table, it is necessary to get them engaged in a political process.”

“Mansour had done a pretty good job of bringing disaffected Taliban leaders into his camp,” said Cunningham, adding that his death will likely reopen rifts.

Unlike Omar’s death, which Mansour kept secret from the Taliban rank and file for two years while he established his own leadership, Mansour’s death is a “sudden dislocation,” said Cunningham.

INDIA’S NSG MEMBERSHIP NOT ABOUT ARMS RACE: US
Pakistan should understand that India’s expected entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is not about an arms race, but about civilian use of atomic energy, a US State Department spokesman has said, while also promising to consider Pakistan’s application to join the elite 48-member body.

He was responding to questions about Pakistan’s opposition to India’s application for membership at the NSG on the ground that this would escalate nuclear arms race in the region.

“Look, all I can say is that during his visit to India in 2015, President (Barack) Obama did affirm the US view that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for membership. But it’s a consensus body, so we’ll wait and see how the vote goes,” Toner said.

“Deliberations about the prospects of new members joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group are an internal matter among the current members. I don’t have much to say beyond that other than that I think they meet regularly.”

“This is not a specific meeting, I believe — not set up to particularly talk about this issue,” Toner said. “They (Pakistan) have made public their interest, and certainly any country can submit its application for membership. We will consider based on a consensus decision.” http://nation.com.pk/national/29-May-2016/us-tells-pakistan-to-go-after-taliban-leaders