Pakistan Knocking at the Nuclear Door

A key ally confirms that his scientists can build the Bomb

Long before neighboring India detonated its first and only "peaceful nuclear explosion" in 1974, Pakistan's then President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vowed that his nation would develop the capacity to make atomic weapons even if the effort required its citizens to "eat grass." Bhutto did not live to make good on that pledge. But the man who deposed him and ordered his execution, Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, took it just as seriously. Last week, after years of doubtful claims that Pakistan's nuclear research program was not aimed at building weapons, Zia acknowledged with surprising candor that his country has achieved the means of...

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