NuclearStrains and embargoes
India's nuclear test changes the agenda
India's 'peaceful nuclear explosion' shook Pakistan and turned non-proliferation into the dominant issue in US–Pakistan relations.
1 min read
Pokhran, May 1974
Rajasthan, India
27° 06′ N · 71° 55′ E
Pokhran, May 1974
Rajasthan, India
27° 06′ N · 71° 55′ E
What happened
On 18 May 1974 India tested a nuclear device at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan, code-named Smiling Buddha. Its yield was estimated at between six and ten kilotons; India's government described it as a peaceful nuclear explosion1. It was the first confirmed nuclear test by a country outside the five permanent members of the UN Security Council1.
Pakistan's reaction
A State Department intelligence assessment written two weeks later reported that Pakistanis had been profoundly shaken. The confidence Bhutto had rebuilt since 1971 was shattered: Pakistanis were used to India's larger numbers, but a demonstration of qualitative superiority was a heavy psychological blow. Bhutto promised that Pakistan would never submit to nuclear blackmail and launched a diplomatic campaign for international security guarantees for non-nuclear states2. Pakistan's own nuclear programme, begun after 1971, gained new urgency3.
The American response
The administration's public response was muted; Kissinger argued that public scolding would not undo the test4. But Washington moved to tighten controls on nuclear exports. It helped organise what became the Nuclear Suppliers Group, whose founding members - Canada, France, Japan, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and West Germany - first met in London in November 19755,6. Congress, too, began to write non-proliferation conditions into foreign aid law7.
Why it mattered
The test set off the dynamic that would dominate US–Pakistan relations for the next quarter-century: Pakistan's determination to match India's capability, and American efforts - through diplomacy, export controls and aid sanctions - to stop it3,7.
Sources
- Smiling Buddha, Wikipedia · Reference
- Department of State Intelligence Note: Pakistan's Response to the Indian Nuclear Explosion (3 June 1974), US Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research (hosted by Bhutto.org), 3 June 1974 · Primary document
- The United States and Pakistan, 1947–2000: Disenchanted Allies (Dennis Kux), Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001 · Scholarly
- In the Shadow of Sanctions? US–India Relations and the S-400 Purchase, E-International Relations, 29 January 2021 · Scholarly
- Nuclear Suppliers Group, Wikipedia · Reference
- The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at a Glance, Arms Control Association · Reference
- Confrontation and Retreat: The U.S. Congress and the South Asian Nuclear Tests – Key Legislation, Arms Control Association (Arms Control Today), January 2000 · Scholarly
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