WSJ wants US to Purchase Pakistan's Nuclear Program

The out-of-the-box-thinkers over at the Wall Street Journal have an interesting concept for dealing with Pakistan’s nuclear program: buying their nuclear arsenal.

We've discussed Pakistan's nuclear program before. Its a significant concern given Pakistan’s constant economic and political instability. If this instability translates into state disintegration, it could leave Pakistan’s robust nuclear arsenal in the hands of Islamic fundamentalist bent on Jihad. Buying Pakistan’s nuclear program would altogether resolve this concern according to the Wall Street Journal:

This is the deal I have in mind. The government of Pakistan would verifiably eliminate its entire nuclear stockpile and the industrial base that sustains it. In exchange, the U.S. and other Western donors would agree to a $100 billion economic package, administered by an independent authority and disbursed over 10 years, on condition that Pakistan remain a democratic and secular state (no military rulers; no Sharia law). It would supplement that package with military aid similar to what the U.S. provides Israel: F-35 fighters, M-1 tanks, Apache helicopters. The U.S. would also extend its nuclear umbrella to Pakistan, just as Hillary Clinton now proposes to do for Israel.

This concept would be plausible were it not for two shortcomings. One, Pakistan sees its nuclear program as necessary to deter a nuclear India. The value it attaches to this deterrent is far greater than $100 million. Two, purchasing another country's nuclear program would likely set a precedent for nuclear blackmail (i.e. like North Korea's nuclear policy today).

Despite its shortcomings and implausibility, PP appreciates the out-of-the-box-thinking. Though it may be an implausible idea, its aberrance to ineffective, mundane foreign policy is a welcomed one.