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27th June 2025
06:35pm BST
Months after the US sanctioned Pakistan's development of far-reaching nuclear weapons, the South Asian country is allegedly increasing its efforts.
Back at the start of 2025, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer claimed Pakistan was focussing on "sophisticated missile technology" that might eventually be capable of hurting the West.
According to a fresh Foreign Affair magazine report, the US is now very much staring down the face of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), with Washington poised to classify Pakistan as an official nuclear enemy.
"Although Pakistan claims its nuclear programme is strictly focused on deterring India, which enjoys conventional military superiority, US intelligence agencies have concluded that the Pakistani military is developing an ICBM that could reach the continental United States," read the report.
American intelligence agencies concluded that this ICBM rollout is part of Pakistan's attempt to deter the States as well as their local rivals India.
"In acquiring such a capability, Pakistan might be seeking to deter the United States from either trying to eliminate its arsenal in a preventive attack or intervening on India's behalf in a future Indian-Pakistani conflict," the report continued.
"As US officials have noted, if Pakistan acquires an ICBM, Washington will have no choice but to treat the country as a nuclear adversary—no other country with ICBMs that can target the United States is considered a friend."
Per Foreign Affairs, US chiefs have long been concerned over the control of Pakistan's nuclear catalogue, what with the country's historical links to terrorism.
Nuclear and standard ICBMs can usually exceed a distance of 5,500km.
This comes just a month after President Donald Trump revealed that Pakistan and India had agreed to a "full and immediate ceasefire", mediated by the States.
