Ex-Congresswoman Warns of Pakistan Missile Threat to US

Tulsi Gabbard, the former US Congresswoman, has raised concerns about Pakistan's missile program potentially posing a future threat to the United States. However, analysts have pushed back against this assessment, arguing that Pakistan's missile capabilities are primarily focused on neighboring India, which has longer-range missiles of its own.

Gabbard, who served as a representative for Hawaii, recently stated that Pakistan's growing missile arsenal could eventually become a danger to the US. She pointed to the country's development of tactical nuclear weapons and short-range ballistic missiles as potential threats that the US should monitor closely.

But defense experts have pushed back against Gabbard's assessment, arguing that Pakistan's missile program is primarily focused on its long-standing rivalry with India, not the United States. India has developed a significant missile defense system and possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach deep into Pakistani territory.

"Pakistan's missile program is really about maintaining a credible deterrent against India, which has a much more advanced and capable missile force," said Vipin Narang, a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's not really about the United States."

Indeed, Pakistan's missile arsenal is primarily composed of short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles that are designed to target Indian cities and military installations. The country has also developed tactical nuclear weapons to deter any potential Indian conventional or nuclear attack.

While the US has expressed concerns about Pakistan's nuclear and missile programs, analysts argue that the real focus should be on managing the India-Pakistan nuclear rivalry and preventing any accidental or inadvertent escalation between the two countries.

"The real threat is not that Pakistan's missiles could one day be used against the US, but that miscalculation or miscommunication between India and Pakistan could lead to a nuclear exchange with catastrophic consequences," said Toby Dalton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.