ISLAMABAD/ DUBAI (AFP, Al Arabiya)

US in secret talks to “secure” Pakistan’s nukes: report

Pakistan snubs doubts over nuclear arms’ safety

Pakistan on Sunday angrily rejected a media report that raised fears of a militant takeover of the Taliban-hit nation's nuclear weapons and suggested that the U.S. had a hand in protecting the arsenal.

In the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote that U.S. officials had negotiated pacts with Pakistan to provide security for the nuclear arsenal in extreme circumstances.

The negotiations had began during the Bush administration and intensified following the President Barack Obama’s so-called "AfPak" strategy stands for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the newspaper reported, adding the cooperation on fighting the Taliban opened doors for close ties between military chiefs in both countries on nuclear cooperation as well

The paper noted that the C.I.A. and the Departments of Defense, State, and Energy have also been involved in nuclear negotiations with Pakistan.

It also raised the possibility that the threat to the security of the nuclear program might come not from Taliban rebels battling the government, but from a "mutiny" by fundamentalist elements within the powerful military.

In response, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that the nation's nuclear materials "are completely safe and secure."

"Pakistan therefore does not require any foreign assistance in this regard," the statement said.

"Nor will Pakistan, as a sovereign state, ever allow any country to have direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities. Any suggestion to this effect is simply preposterous."

Pakistan's government is fiercely protective and proud of its nuclear weapons program, seen as a much-needed deterrent and defense against its arch-foe India, which also has nuclear capabilities.

But soaring attacks by Taliban insurgents -- who struck at the heart of the military establishment in a raid and hostage drama at army headquarters last month -- have raised jitters over the weapons' safety.

Hersh wrote in the The New Yorker that officials in Washington and Islamabad told him that agreements would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis.

It also quoted unnamed Pakistan officials as expressing fear that the governments of either Pakistan's ally the United States or their arch-rival India might try to take control of the weapons -- a claim denied by the U.S.

In response, Larry Schwartz, a spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, told AFP that "the United States has no intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons or material.

"Pakistan is a key ally in our common effort to fight violent extremists and foster regional security."