Preventing Catastrophe: U.S. Policy Options for the Management of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia.

摘要

The 'peaceful nuclear explosion' of an Indian device in 1974 was a watershed event that called upon the U,S to focus its nonproliferation policy in South Asia, During the mid-198Os, Pakistan developed a nuclear capability as well, Successive administrations attempted to address the worrisome proliferation on the subcontinent with virtually no success, as exemplified in May 1998 when the countries conducted a chilling series of nuclear tests, As the situation worsened, the U,S, objective, according to the OSD document entitled Proliferation: Threat and Response, remained constant: 'To persuade India and Pakistan to first cap, then reduce, and eventually eliminate their capabilities to produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles,'1 This goal was admirable but not very realistic, and ultimately unsuccessful.