Going Tactical: Pakistan’s Nuclear Posture and Implications for Stability
For decades, the Asian security environment has been characterized by multiple strategic rivalries with cascading effects.
Due to its competition with China, India modernizes its armed forces, thus reinforcing its conventional advantage over Pakistan. In the subcontinent, geography, military imbalance, the legacy of past conflicts and infiltration of extremist groups considerably weaken strategic stability. To strengthen its deterrent capability against its stronger neighbour, Pakistan faces significant challenges in developing a conventional response to perceived threats from India. Islamabad thus committed to a “full spectrum” build-up of its nuclear forces, which includes the development of tactical nuclear weapons. As Cold War experience informs, far from simply strengthening its deterrent vis-a-vis India, this move poses numerous operational dilemmas for Pakistan. The ongoing regional quantitative and qualitative arms race combines with continued political tensions between India and Pakistan to create a worrying strategic dynamic in South Asia.
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Going Tactical: Pakistan’s Nuclear Posture and Implications for Stability
Security Studies Center
Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.
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