Pak-US talks may reduce S. Asia nuke war chances, says academic

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States next week may lower chances of a nuclear war taking place in South Asia.

Writing in Forbes, University of Baltimore School of Law Professor Charles Tiefer said, Sharif's "visit may bring to a head the secret U.S.- Pakistan talks, just now made publicly known, dealing with Pakistan's consideration of deploying tactical nuclear weapons among its army facing India."

The editorial said Sharif's visit to Washington was a matter of life and death for India.

"Tactical nuclear weapons are provided, in theory, to army units for use during regular military campaigns, just like those army units might use conventional weapons. But by using these during a conventional war with India, Pakistan's army would escalate an ordinary battle up to the nuclear level, potentially leading to an exchange of strategic nuclear weapons," Tiefer said.

Tiefer said, "India and Pakistan each have large arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons. These are controlled directly from the top of the armed forces."

He also said that some Indian observers did not welcome a US-Pakistan deal.

"They say it would be unwelcome because Pakistan seeks to be on the road to a nuclear deal with the United States like India's own," the opinion piece further said.

The editorial concluded that since Pakistan is so heavily armed and outside the nonproliferation regime, the subcontinent is seen as the most dangerous confrontation on the planet.