In a shocking revelation, U.S’s former Secretary of Defense James Mattis says that Pakistan tops his list as the most dangerous country in the world.
At an event on Tuesday, he minced no words when he stated that “this is a much worse problem, I think, than anyone is writing about today.”
Mattis also writes the same in his latest book called ‘Call Sign Chaos’ and says that “we can’t have the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal in the world falling into the hands of the terrorists breeding in their midst.” He also hinted on the “very twisted” relationship between the US and Pakistan and said that it is a two way one with the US relying on Pakistan to help it during peace talks with the Taliban and then also pulling hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the Pakistani military.
At an event in New York held on Tuesday he stated that even though there are other hot spots like Afghanistan, Venezuela, Yemen, it is Pakistan that tops his list of the most dangerous country.
In his book, he writes that Pakistan “views all geopolitics through the prism of its hostility toward India,” which has shaped its policy in Afghanistan, as the “the Pakistan military wanted a friendly government in Kabul that was resistant to Indian influence”. He also said that it is common knowledge that Pakistan has provided safe haven to members of the Afghan Taliban and it also harbored al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
According to him, this was one of the reasons why then President Barack Obama did not inform Pakistan of the US Navy SEALs raid that found and killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
The reasons he stated is because of the level of radicalization of Pakistan’s society and its nuclear weapons.
Pakistan has the world’s fastest growing nuclear arsenal, with a substantial quantity of tactical weapons. This has been repeatedly spoken about by prominent leaders of the country including a member of PM Imran Khan’s cabinet recently.