Research · Reference

Policy glossary

The laws, agreements, institutions and places that come up again and again in relations between the United States and Pakistan, each explained in a short, neutral, sourced entry.

65 entries, A to Z

5 of 65 terms in Nuclear. Show all

A

A.Q. Khan network

nuclear. Also Khan network. A clandestine supply network led by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the metallurgist who had headed Pakistan’s uranium-enrichment programme, that provided centrifuge designs, components and know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Exposed in 2003–04, it led Khan to confess on Pakistani television in February 2004; President Musharraf pardoned him, and he later retracted the confession. The United States imposed sanctions on Khan and associates in 2009.

C

Chashma Nuclear Power Complex

nuclear. Also Chashma. A group of nuclear power reactors at Chashma in Punjab, built with Chinese help and operated by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission under IAEA safeguards. China’s supply of further reactors after it joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2004 raised questions among other members, since Pakistan is outside the NPT. A fifth, 1,200-megawatt unit is under construction; its safeguards agreement with the IAEA was signed in 2026.

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

nuclear. Also CTBT. A treaty opened for signature in 1996 that bans all nuclear explosions. It enters into force only when all 44 states listed in its Annex 2, which had nuclear power or research reactors when it was negotiated, have ratified it. Pakistan and India are both Annex 2 states and have not signed it; the United States signed in 1996 but has not ratified.

N

Nuclear Suppliers Group

nuclear. Also NSG. A group of 48 nuclear-supplier countries, formed in 1975, that coordinate export controls on nuclear materials, equipment and technology and on related dual-use items through two sets of guidelines, which members apply in their national laws. Its decisions are taken by consensus. A 2008 exemption allows members to trade civil nuclear items with India; Pakistan and India both applied to join in 2016.

T

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

nuclear. Also NPT, Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty opened for signature in 1968 and in force since 1970, under which the five nuclear-weapon states undertake not to help others acquire nuclear weapons, non-nuclear-weapon states undertake not to acquire them and to accept IAEA safeguards, and all parties commit to pursue disarmament and may share peaceful nuclear technology. Pakistan, like India and Israel, has never joined it, which shapes the US nonproliferation laws applied to Pakistan.

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