Pakistan

Due to its status as a nuclear power, ongoing tensions with India and its relative instability, Pakistan is often called the most dangerous place on Earth. Following is analysis and opinion from Ploughshares Fund staff, grantees and guests on the ongoing struggle to deal with nuclear weapons in Pakistan.

  • Is the Nuclear Order Worth Saving?

    Is the Nuclear Order Worth Saving?

    "Who decides how human society and human civilization conducts its affairs: nine countries with nuclear weapons or everybody else?" Zia Mian asked Ploughshares Fund’s Michelle Dover. Mian says the world is shifting away from the superpower model of nuclear diplomacy. "During the Cold War, the US...

    November 1, 2019 - By Zack Brown
  • India and Pakistan on the Brink

    India and Pakistan on the Brink

    With last week's US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Congressional Democrats’ revolt against President Donald Trump’s state of emergency and Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee; you may have missed the news that the Indian Air Force launched airstrikes against targets in...

    March 6, 2019 - By Geoffrey Wilson
  • Grantee Spotlight: Aware Girls

    Grantee Spotlight: Aware Girls

    The voices that perpetuate conflict are too often those that should be working to end it—elders, parents, older siblings. Two girls in Pakistan’s Peshawar province decided young people working with their peers could break that pattern. Though they were only 15 and 16, Saba and Gulalai Ismail co-...

    December 11, 2017 - By Ploughshares Fund
  • The Karuna Center

    The Karuna Center

    Sectarian violence has long been – and remains today – a major roadblock to Pakistan’s and South Asia’s peace and prosperity. Given the tumultuous relationship between India and Pakistan, their possession of nuclear weapons is particularly concerning. Ploughshares Fund grantee the Karuna Center...

    August 31, 2016 - By Ploughshares Fund

  • 5 Steps to a Safer World - Rolling Back the Nuclear Tide, Part II

    Browsing the headlines, the world looks a dangerous place. Boko Haram is bombing its way across Nigeria, civil war in Syria, transnational terrorism and more. But the biggest danger is...

    July 11, 2014 - By Eric Sutphin

  • 3 Reasons We Still Need to Roll Back the Tide of Nuclear Weapons

    As the P5+1 negotiations with Iran continue, there are grounds for optimism that an agreement can be reached by the July 20th deadline. A deal would be a significant achievement in the ongoing battle against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. But this raises the question: what...

    July 2, 2014 - By Eric Sutphin

  • Chemical Weapons, Syria and the International Response to WMDs

    The debate over Syria’s possible use of chemical weapons has been dominating the headlines. Were deadly nerve agents used? If so by whom? Was the use intentional? These questions are important since President Obama has intimated that, if confirmed, the use of chemical weapons could change U.S. policy toward the Syrian civil war. The specifics of what the United States would do differently are unclear. What is clear, though, is that the use of chemical weapons characteristically changes the way we perceive the conflict. It is, as Obama stated, a “game changer.”

    May 10, 2013 - By Paul Carroll

  • Reclaiming PATA in Pakistan

    Within Pakistan, extremism threatens the stability of the country and the security of their nuclear weapons. The Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) remain particularly volatile. Crisis Group, a Ploughshares Fund grantee, recently released a report, Pakistan: Countering Militancy in PATA, outlining a series of reforms national and provincial leaders can take to curb extremism and reclaim political space ceded to the military.

    February 26, 2013 - By Jessica Sleight

  • Top 10 Books for Your 2013 Radioactive Reading Resolution

    With a new year come exciting opportunities to expand your knowledge of nuclear issues. Since you have probably read through last year’s list (well done!) and our summer list (kudos!), we’re providing you with a brand new list to satisfy your reading resolution for 2013. Covering diverse topics from Hiroshima manga (Japanese graphic novels) to the development of the bomb in Pakistan there is something to satisfy the nuclear wonk in everyone.

    January 22, 2013 - By Jessica Sleight

  • Cuban Missile Crisis: Where Could It Happen Today?

    Things have changed since 1962. Hippies have given way to hipsters, cellphones give you the news faster than the local news team can, only two Beatles are left, and the Soviet Union doesn’t even exist anymore. The Cold War atmosphere has evaporated and the risk of all-out nuclear war has dramatically decreased. However, a similar type of nuclear crisis that happened in Cuba in 1962 unfortunately could still happen today.

    October 25, 2012 - By Jessica Sleight