US President Joe Biden described Pakistan as “one of the most dangerous nations” in the world as it holds “nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” in a frank geopolitical assessment on Friday.
The comments on Pakistan were made in his address at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Reception in Los Angeles. Biden was talking about how the world was changing with reference to China and Russia, He also emphasised his close understanding of China’s President Xi Jinping and how the US had a bigger role to play in geopolitics.
“This is a guy (Xi Jinping) who understands what he wants but has an enormous, enormous array of problems. How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” the White House press statement cites Biden as saying at the Democratic party event.
“Did anybody think we’d be in a situation where China is trying to figure out its role relative to Russia and relative to India and relative to Pakistan? Biden remarked.
“I’ve spent more time with Xi Jinping than any person…. I spent over — they keep count of it — 78 hours’ worth. Of that, 68 were in person, over the last 10 years, because Barack knew that he couldn’t be dealing with a Vice President. And so, he assigned me. I’ve travelled 17,000 miles with him,” he observed.
“So, folks, there’s a lot going on. A lot going on. But there’s also enormous opportunities for the United States to change the dynamic in the second quarter of the 21st century,” the US President said.
These comments come two days after the release of the 48-page US’ National Security Strategy document which does not make any reference to Pakistan.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration released the Congress mandated key policy document, underlining the threat posed to the US by both China and Russia.
The National Security Strategy states that China and Russia who earlier this year announced a “no-limits partnership” are increasingly aligned with each other but the challenges they pose are distinct.
“We will prioritize maintaining an enduring competitive edge over the PRC (China) while constraining a still profoundly dangerous Russia,” it adds.
The policy document contends that competition with China is most pronounced in the Indo-Pacific, but it is also increasingly global.
The US Security Strategy highlighted that the next ten years will be a decisive decade of competition with China.