Pakistan's Nuclear Bomb
Description. A short description of a book from my bookshelf, not a review.
Abbas tells the story of Pakistan's nuclear programme as a story of defiance, deterrence and deviance. He follows its origins after the 1971 defeat and India's 1974 test, the role of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the army, and the rise of A. Q. Khan, whose network later sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Abbas is a Pakistani-born scholar, and he writes with access to sources inside the country as well as a critical eye. The book is strongest on how weak oversight allowed Khan's proliferation business to flourish, and on what the programme reveals about the balance of power between Pakistan's civilian and military institutions.
From the bookshelf · read 2021