Toward a nuclear freeze in South Asia

Writing for Arms Control Today, Daryll Kimball of the Arms Control Association argues that the U.S. should help to re-establish nuclear restraint and arms control as a top priority for India and Pakistan, beginning with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit to India this month. Though New Delhi is clearly not yet ready to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it is not in its strategic interests to resume nuclear testing and Clinton should not hesitate to put the CTBT back on the U.S.-Indian bilateral agenda. It may be difficult for the Obama team to nudge India and Pakistan toward greater nuclear restraint, but failure to bring about change risks the most severe nuclear proliferation consequences in the years ahead.