Interaction with US Army War College Scholar

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Dr. Jeffrey McCausland of the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College visited the VIF on 11^th June afternoon for an interaction with the VIF faculty on the subject of Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons. VIF Director, Gen (Retd) NC Vij chaired the meeting and pointed out about the flaws about Pakistan’s approach to nuclear weapons and the possibilities of the same falling into the hands of jihadis/terrorist outfits. Dr. McCausland is a retired U.S. Army officer and has experience in the TNW world, both as a gunner who would have deployed these weapons in a Cold War confrontation and on the policy side looking at threat reduction matters.

Dr. Jeffery made a power point presentation that gave out in detail the implications of the use of TNWs and how they pose threat not only to the region but to the world. He also mentioned that he has been involved in a Track II initiative with the Pak Army in which he has tried to share from NATO’s experiences with TNWs in an effort to dissuade them from further pursuing that avenue. The VIF faculty mostly agreed with the points made by him and pointed out the dysfunctional nature of Pakistani state and the dangers posed by Pakistan’s TNWs especially when the same may fall into the hands of radical elements and terrorists and the ever present threat to security of nuclear weapons.