<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DUBAI: Pakistan&rsquo;s defense minister said his nation&rsquo;s nuclear program &ldquo;will be made available&rdquo; to Saudi Arabia if needed under the countries&rsquo; new defense pact, marking the first specific acknowledgment that Islamabad had put the kingdom under its nuclear umbrella. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif&rsquo;s comments late Thursday night underlined the importance of the pact struck this week between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which have had military ties for decades. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The move is seen by analysts as a signal to Israel, long believed to be the Middle East&rsquo;s only nuclear-armed nation.&nbsp; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This comes after Israel&rsquo;s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week killed six people and sparked new concerns among Gulf Arab nations about their safety amid the Israel-Hamas war that devastated the Gaza Strip and set the region on edge. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Speaking to Geo TV in an interview, Asif made the comments while answering a question on whether &ldquo;the deterrence that Pakistan gets from nuclear weapons&rdquo; will be made available to Saudi Arabia. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;Let me make one point clear about Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear capability: that capability was established long ago when we conducted tests. Since then, we have forces trained for the battlefield,&quot; Asif said. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;What we have, and the capabilities we possess, will be made available to (Saudi Arabia) according to this agreement,&rdquo; he added. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The two countries signed a defense deal Wednesday declaring that an attack on one nation would be an attack on both. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neither country has responded to questions about the pact and what it meant in regards to possibly accessing Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear arsenal. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Retired Pakistani Brig. Gen. Feroz Hassan Khan has said Saudi Arabia provided &ldquo;generous financial support to Pakistan that enabled the nuclear program to continue, especially when the country was under sanctions.&rdquo; Pakistan faced US sanctions for years over its pursuit of the bomb, and saw new ones imposed over its ballistic missile work at the end of the Biden administration. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons program&nbsp;to counter India&rsquo;s atomic bombs<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The two neighbors have fought multiple wars against each other, and again came close to open warfare after&nbsp;an attack on tourists in April<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India is believed to have an estimated 172 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170, according to the US-published Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

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Pakistani Defense Minister Asif signals nuclear cooperation under newly signed defense agreement

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Pakistan willing to extend nuclear program to Saudi Arabia under defense pact