Does Afghanistan have nuclear weapons.

Factual Questions
1

Can the teeming millions assist me in locating this information, or perhaps supply it?

2

I think at this point Afghanistan barely has fire.

(Okay, an exaggeration. But it would not surprise me in the least if they are struggling with keeping electricity going.)

3

The countries known to have nukes:

U.S.
Britain
France
Russia
China
India
Pakistan*

Countries suspected of having nukes, or working on acquiring such:

Israel
Iran
Iraq
North Korea
Libya
South Africa (developed and then scrapped)

*troubled next door neighbor to Afghanistan

4

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought Israel was known to have about 60 small tactical nukes…?

5

Israel has never publicly “declared” itself to be a nuclear power, but everyone knows they have nuclear weapons.

6

Question has been well answered, but here is the Nuclear weapons database.

Israel looks to have 100+ and Pakistan about 15-25.

7

Anth, I don’t know the numbers, but Israel has long been an unacknowledged member of the nuke club. That is to say they’ve never copped to having 'em, but there is little doubt amongst those who follow the world’s inventory that they’re so equipped.

8

Afganistan doesn’t have any nukes…yet. In the near future they may, I hope, “have” several, but only for a few moments before they detonate…

9

The problem with going all out and bombing Afghanistan or some other concerted military action is that the border between it and Pakistan is extremely porous, not just because of geography but also due to there being a large number of Afgahni citizens in Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are very close in terms of national sympathies, it is fair to say that many things happening in Afghanistan, from relief aid and military assistance to selected groups, passes through Pakistan.

There are many in both countries who would regard their inerests as being common.

Pakistan has nuclear weapons, question is, how secure are they from those in the Pakistani establishment who support Afghanistan ?

10

Since they’re Pakistan supported, I don’t doubt that nukes are a concern. It’s a good thing they just made a movie on the Cuban missile crisis since it looks like we’ll be needing some in-depth instruction from the media on feeling afraid of dying a horrible death. Also, let’s not forget that both the British and the Russians failed to kick Afghani ass–and Russia shares a border! Imagine if we tried to kick Mexico or Canada’s butt? I think the Canadians would be embarrassed for us and Mexico (maybe) would be “surrendering” and buying Lotto tickets. Speaking of Mexico, let’s talk about governments that deny the will of the majority and are corrupt…Hmmmm…sounds like the Taliban. (Could sound like us, but I do, really believe that ultimately what SHOULD be, will be) To further sound unpatriotic, I know that war is all about the slaughter of innocents to get to the few evil ones, but I really wish there was some way to punish terrorists without harming the innocent Afghani people. I wish we lived in a perfect world.
Ach! I sound like SUCH a pansy!

11

That sort of post is completely inappropriate here. Don’t do it again.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

12

i just saw on the news this morning that pakistan has agreed to every U.S. demand, including our military staging strikes from there and such. so it looks like they won’t ally with afghanistan, and that’s a huge relief to me. the thing that worries me about this news though, is the possibility of pakistani citizens who sympathize with afghanistan and decide to take matters into their own hands and attack U.S. troops who will be stationed there.

13

This may be a totally paranoid thing to ask (but right now some of the fears I’m feeling aren’t rational, so what the heck):

Pakistan has ‘supported’ Afghanistan in the past. I believe they are the only nation that recognises the Taliban. Are they really on our side? Or are they just setting us up?

14

In some ways the elite in Pakistan would see the US crushing the Taliban and a big help to themselves.

At the moment they are intimidated by the threat of violence and the political power that the Taliban has.

The power of the Taliban in Pakistan is so great that it effectively holds up the much needed reforms to liberalise trade and deploy an effective police force that is based on government and law rather than the word of a cleric or tribal leader.

Don’t underestimate the personal risks that Pakistan’s leadership could face by backing US action.

There is a possibility of religious revolution, and if they get control over the nuclear devices it could be interesting.

15

In fact, many in Pakistan are still supporting not just Afghanistan, but even the Taliban explicitly.and the Al Quada outfit has military camps in Pakistan. The reasons Pakistan government would support US attack on Afghanistan now are

  1. World is watching them very closely and this is no time to support terrorism so openly.
  2. Sanctions are imposed on them by USA. They would love them to be eased a little bit by offering the “help”. It is justa trade
  3. The relations between US and Pakistan is a little strained now considering US has started to support India just a little in Pakistan’s ever continuing war against India.
  4. PAkistan needs heavy financial help and loans.(UN,world bank, US)

What would be interesting is to note the aftermath of the attack on Afghnanistan From bases in Pakistan,since Bush has said that" All countries harboring terroeism would be attacked". A little ironical is the fact that Pakistan itself is harboring many terrorist camps and ISI supporting them.

16

Thank you, Casdave and Offcourse, for attempting to alleviate my paranoid delusions. Both of you have very valid reasons why that Pakistan would welcome the US attack on the Taliban. I’m not sure my fears are laid to rest, but I have more to think about.