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India-US strategy needed on WMD: Blackwill
Kolkata, Nov 27: US Ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill today cautioned that both countries faced `significant risk` in the next few years from either terrorists or rogue states having weapons of mass destruction and said checking the proliferation of these weapons was a major strategic challenge.
Kolkata, Nov 27: US Ambassador to India Robert D
Blackwill today cautioned that both countries faced
"significant risk" in the next few years from either
terrorists or rogue states having weapons of mass destruction
and said checking the proliferation of these weapons was a
major strategic challenge.
"If promoting peace, prosperity and freedom in Asia, and
defeating international terrorism are two long-term objectives
of a transforming US-Indian relationship, the third and final
strategic challenge is to curtail proliferation of Weapons of
Mass Destruction (WMD) in Asia and the means to deliver them,"
he said delivering a lecture here on 'the quality and
durability of US-India relationship.'
Stating that both India and the US shared a common vital
national interest in restraining further proliferation of WMD
and their means of delivery, he said, "both countries face a
significant risk within the next few years of confronting
either terrorists or rogue states armed with such WMD
capabilites."
According to the US ambassador, eight Asian nations
today either have nuclear weapons capabilities, or were trying
to acquire them. Nine had biological or chemical weapons or
were attempting to obtain them, while eight others had
ballistic missiles with ranges exceeding 1,000 km.
"No other part of the globe has such a concentration of WMD weapons and capabilities and these disturbing trends would worsen. As WMD programmes have become more advanced and more effective as they mature, many countries of concern have become more aggressive in pursuing them," he said.
Bureau Report
"No other part of the globe has such a concentration of WMD weapons and capabilities and these disturbing trends would worsen. As WMD programmes have become more advanced and more effective as they mature, many countries of concern have become more aggressive in pursuing them," he said.
Bureau Report