Pakistan's Long-Range Missile Development Programme An 'Emerging Threat' To United States: Top US Official

A senior White House official has described Pakistan as an "emerging threat" to the United States due to its development of long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets well beyond South Asia.

Speaking at a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace event on Thursday (19 December), US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said that Pakistan has developed "increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment, that would enable the testing of significantly larger rocket motors."

If those trends continue, Finer said, "Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States, raising real questions about Pakistan's intensions."

The number of nuclear-armed states with missiles that can reach the US homeland "is very small and they tend to be adversarial", Finer said, naming Russia, North Korea and China.

"So, candidly, it's hard for us to see Pakistan's actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States," Finer said.

Finer noted that the US has been a long-time partner with Pakistan on development, counter-terrorism and other security issues.

"We have provided support to Islamabad during difficult times and we continue to desire a co-operative relationship in these areas of shared interest. That makes us question even more, why Pakistan would be motivated to develop capability that could be used against us," Finer added.

Finer's remarks came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to Pakistan's ballistic missile development programme, including for the first time against the state-run defence agency NDC that oversees the programme.

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