US says ‘confident’ Pakistan can secure nukes after Biden uproar

The United States said on Monday that it had confidence in Pakistan’s ability to control its nuclear arsenal after President Joe Biden expressed alarm, leading Islamabad to summon the US ambassador.

“The United States is confident of Pakistan’s commitment and its ability to secure its nuclear assets,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday rejected US President Joe Biden remarks on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons as factually incorrect and misleading’.

In a speech he made at a Democratic congressional campaign committee on Thursday, Biden said Pakistan may be "one of the most dangerous nations in the world". "Nuclear weapons without any cohesion," the US president added.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he was "surprised" by the comments, describing it as "a sort of misunderstanding that is created when there is a lack of engagement”.

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"[Pakistan’s nuclear assets] meet each and every international standard in accordance with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as far as security and safety is concerned," he said in a Press conference in Karachi on Saturday.

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