Daniel R. Coats, Director of National Intelligence, told the U.S. Senate intelligence committee during a hearing on worldwide threat assessment that New Delhi’s growing intolerance to Islamabad’s “failure to curb support to anti-India militants” led to a deterioration in bilateral ties in 2016 and this could worsen in the current year. “Pakistan’s pursuit of tactical nuclear weapons potentially lowers the threshold for their use. Mr. Obama made a mention of it at his address to the Nuclear Security Summit last year. Pakistan-based terrorist groups will present a sustained threat to U.S. interests in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan, the official told lawmakers. “The threat to the United States and the West from Pakistani-based terrorist groups will be persistent but diffuse.

Source: The Hindu May 12, 2017 16:41 UTC