Washington: The United States should consider Pakistan not just as an ally in the war on terrorism but also as a "serious problem" in the struggle to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, Joseph Cirincione, director of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment, has said.

Referring to reports that Pakistan aided North Korea and possibly Iran as well in the nuclear weapon field, Cirincione, in a report co-authored with Husain Haqqani, said that anti-terror concerns should not trump anti-nuclear ones.

Cirincione said the US should help Pakistan overcome its security anxieties about India but it should not allow Pakistan's military leaders to feel they are free to resist democracy and develop their nuclear arsenal as long as they chase down members of al-Qaida.

Despite its denials, Islamabad reportedly swapped nuclear technology with North Korea, which helped Pakistan develop its ballistic missile programme, he said.

As Pakistan is a key US ally in the war against terrorism, Washington has tended to overlook Islamabad's possible nuclear misconduct, he said.

It's worth remembering, he said "that Pakistan was able to develop a nuclear programme because Washington wanted to use the country as a staging ground for the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan" during the guerrilla war against the Soviets.

Stopping the spread of these deadly arsenals, however, requires the United States to put its diplomatic muscle behind its policy pronouncements, Cirincione said.

PTI