Date

Apr 9, 1987

Description

In the fall of 1986, Reagan certified Pakistan's compliance with the Pressler amendment although it was manifest that U.S. aid was not preventing Pakistan from doing what it could to produce a nuclear device. With the White House's request for a new assistance program under review, Congress was contemplating a shorter, two-year, waiver of the Symington amendment or possibly tying aid directly to a halt of enriched uranium production. In early 1987 the Pakistani nuclear program was getting in the news again----statements by A.Q. Khan about a "nuclear weapons capability," Zia declaring that "Pakistan can build a bomb whenever it wishes," and a speech by Ambassador Dean Hinton stating that Pakistan's nuclear efforts were "inconsistent" with a peaceful program—which could only raise Congressional objections to aid to Pakistan. [11] In this context, according to Assistant Secretary Murphy, the danger was that Zia "has approached a threshold which he cannot cross without blatantly violating his pledge not to embarrass the President."

Arguing that the administration needed "to obtain specific actions demonstrating restraint," Murphy acknowledged that Pakistan was "unlikely" to do so, especially because Zia had "not so far responded constructively" to previous requests. Nevertheless, he proposed an "action plan" that included a new demarche on enrichment and other "nuclear firebreaks," a message to India also asking for "restraint," a "Congressional game plan," and a presidential envoy to "engage" both India and Pakistan in the nuclear issue.

With the U.S. considering sales of airborne early warning aircraft (AEW) to Pakistan, Richard Kennedy, the ambassador-at-large for nonproliferation matters, had suggested that Washington directly link the sales to "Pakistani action on nonproliferation," but other officials opposed such linkage. Perhaps Murphy raised the issue to see if Shultz had any interest in pursuing it.

What action Shultz may have taken on Murphy's proposal remains to be learned, but any pressure exerted was likely to have been weak. Later in 1987, Reagan certified that Pakistan did not possess a nuclear advice; the aid kept flowing.

Source

MDR Release

Document published in following posting(s):

New Documents Spotlight Reagan-era Tensions over Pakistani Nuclear Program

Apr 27, 2012