Biden Calls Pakistan ‘One of the Most Dangerous Nations in the World’

U.S. President Joe Biden recently called Pakistan “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” for possessing “nuclear weapons without any cohesion.” The comments were surprising as bilateral relations between the United States and Pakistan have been on the mend. In recent months, U.S. and Pakistani civilian and military officials of various ranks have traveled to each other’s capitals and exchanged views on security and non-security issues. 

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the U.S. recently and there has been a major development regarding the sale of strategically important F-16 maintenance equipment for Pakistan. Moreover, a recent trip to Pakistan-administrated Kashmir by U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome was welcomed in Islamabad as a sign of growing U.S. interest in Pakistan’s conflict with India over Kashmir.

Caught off-guard by Biden’s remark, the Pakistani government took more than two days to put together a response that could placate its domestic audience while ensuring that ties with Washington are not further damaged.

As expected, Pakistan rejected Biden’s comments about the country’s nuclear weapons as “factually incorrect and misleading.” Islamabad also summoned the American ambassador to the Foreign Office to issue an official demarche.

Nevertheless, the comment created a political storm in Pakistan, with people wondering if Biden was questioning the command and control structure of Pakistan’s nuclear program or whether it reflected a change in the U.S. policy toward Pakistan.

Shortly after Biden’s comment, there was a visible effort on Washington’s part to ease Pakistan’s worries and perhaps soften the statement’s impact. Days after Biden’s remark, U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told journalists in Washington that “the United States is confident of Pakistan’s commitment and its ability to secure nuclear assets.” Answering a question regarding Biden’s remark about Pakistan’s nuclear program, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that “the president views a secure and prosperous Pakistan as critical to U.S. interests.”

Experts say that Biden’s off-the-cuff remark, made during a speech to donors, wasn’t a policy address and he certainly wasn’t trying to send a message to Pakistan. 

“I think there’s a good chance Biden had recently received an intelligence briefing highlighting Pakistan’s current divisions and volatilities. So his comment about no cohesion likely referred not to Pakistan’s nukes, but to broader trends in the country,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told The Diplomat.

Kugelman says the comment won’t undermine the bilateral relationship in a “big way” as following the development, Washington was quick to clarify that it is “essentially comfortable with the safety of Pakistan’s nukes.” The bilateral relationship these days is “driven by the State Department and USAID, not the White House,” Kugelman said, adding that “having a formal ambassador in Islamabad after a gap of several years can help calm things and facilitate the necessary damage control.”

Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, found it curious that Biden made this comment at a political fundraiser. “I wonder whether it was part of his prepared remarks – I suspect it wasn’t,” he said.

He further pointed out that nowhere in Biden’s “new National Security Strategy is Pakistan discussed – very likely a purposeful decision because the U.S. doesn’t want to worsen relations with Pakistan.” This flare-up, Grossman explained, won’t be allowed to seriously affect improving bilateral relations. “The relationship just limped through one of its worst periods in decades and survived. I don’t think any one comment will make much of a difference,” he said. 

The State Department, Grossman said, “predictably cleaned up Biden’s comments by stating it does not have concerns over the security of Pakistan’s nuclear program; rather, Washington is more concerned about TTP attacks against Pakistan.”

However, Grossman warned that such comments “only perpetuate an environment of deepening distrust of U.S. intentions that was brought to the fore most recently by [former Prime Minister] Imran Khan.”

Similarly, Kugelman said “regardless of the context,” the Pakistani decisionmakers will understandably be concerned whenever a U.S. president mentions Pakistan’s nukes. “If anything, Biden’s comments will serve as a reminder that security issues can be tension points and that the long-term health of the relationship will be better if the focus is on non-security areas,” he stressed. 

Marvin G. Weinbaum, director of Pakistan and Afghanistan studies at the Middle East Institute, noted that Biden’s “unguarded remark reinforces widespread anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and plays perfectly into the playbook of [Imran] Khan, who, in trying to unseat the government, continues to push the narrative that the U.S. is no friend of Pakistan.”

Kugelman said it is encouraging that the response from Islamabad was fairly conciliatory following Biden’s remarks. “So long as [Pakistani decisionmakers] recognize that what Biden said is not meant to reflect U.S. policy and that U.S. officials don’t want it to impact bilateral relations, I don’t expect long-term deleterious complications,” he added.