In a development that underscores India’s long-term concern, the United States and Russia had also expressed nervousness over Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation. Recently released verbatim transcripts of conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President George W. Bush reveal that both leaders harboured serious early concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and the risk of nuclear proliferation to countries such as Iran and North Korea. The documents were made public this week by the National Security Archive following a successful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.
The records, spanning meetings and phone calls between 2001 and 2008, show that despite forging a close partnership after the 9/11 attacks, Washington and Moscow viewed Pakistan—then under military ruler Pervez Musharraf—as a significant non-proliferation challenge. During their first face-to-face meeting on June 16, 2001, at Brdo Castle in Slovenia, Putin expressed blunt concerns over Pakistan’s political instability and nuclear status.
“I am concerned about Pakistan,” Putin told Bush during the meeting. “It is essentially a junta with nuclear weapons. It is not a democracy, yet the West does not criticise it. This should be discussed.”
The exchange took place amid broader talks on strategic stability, missile defence, Iran, North Korea, and NATO expansion. At the time, Bush sought to emphasise improved ties with Moscow, describing Russia as “part of the West and not an enemy.” The two leaders also struck a personal rapport, with Bush later remarking that he had looked into Putin’s soul and found him trustworthy.
By September 2005, during a meeting in the Oval Office focused on non-proliferation efforts and cooperation on Iran and North Korea, the discussions turned more explicitly to concerns about Pakistani links to Iran’s nuclear programme. The transcripts reflect shared unease over the A.Q. Khan network, through which sensitive nuclear technology was illicitly transferred to multiple countries.
Full 2005 Transcript:
Putin: But it’s not clear what the labs (Iran) have, where they are… Cooperation with Pakistan still exists.
Bush: I talked to Musharraf about that. I told him we’re worried about transfers to Iran and North Korea. They put A.Q. Khan in jail, and some of his buddies. Under house arrest. We want to know what they said. I keep reminding Musharraf of that. Either he’s getting nothing, or he’s not being forthcoming.”
Putin: As far as I understand, they found uranium of Pakistani origin in the centrifuges.
Bush: Yes, the stuff the Iranians forgot to tell the IAEA about. That’s a violation.
Putin: It was of Pakistani origin. That makes me nervous.
Bush: It makes us nervous, too
Putin: Think about us.
Bush: We don’t need a lot of religious nuts with nuclear weapons. That’s what Iran has running the country.
The conversations underscore lingering doubts about Pakistan’s command and control mechanisms over its nuclear weapons amid political uncertainty. They also capture the early sense of strategic closeness between Bush and Putin in the aftermath of 9/11, with Bush referring to Putin as “the kind of guy you want in the foxhole with you.”
