Stating that the Al Qaeda and Taliban are keen to lay their hands on nuclear weapons and use them against the United States and its allies, President Barack Obama vowed to secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists.
“We will have to take away the tools of mass destruction. That is why I have made it a central pillar of my foreign policy to secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to pursue the goal of a world without them,” Mr. Obama said.
He said that “every nation must understand that true security will never come from an endless race for ever-more destructive weapons -- true security will come for those who reject them.”
Mr. Obama, while addressing at the West Point Military Academy on Af-Pak policy, said since 9/11, al Qaeda’s safe-havens have been the source of attacks against London, Amman and Bali.
The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered, he said.
“The stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al-Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them,” Mr. Obama said.