Pakistan's rivalry with India is driving its nuclear ambitions, a media report said on Monday, noting that Islamabad seems incapable of understanding that the real threat comes from Taliban and other extremists.
"The army claims to need more nuclear weapons to deter India's superior conventional arsenal... It seems incapable of understanding that the real threat comes from the Taliban and other extremists," the New York Times reported.
It said that Pakistan can't feed its people, educate its children, or defeat insurgents without billions of dollars in foreign aid. "Yet, with China's help, it is now building a fourth nuclear reactor to produce more weapons fuel."
The paper earlier reported that Pakistan has been steadily building up its nuclear arsenal since President Barack Obama took office in 2009. The country is on its way to overtake Britain as the fifth largest nuclear weapons power, and soon even surpass France as the fourth largest.
The United States, Russia and China are currently the three largest nuclear weapons states.
The daily pointed out that "the biggest game-changer would be for Pakistan and India
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