Prospect of Biological and Nuclear Terrorism in Central Asia and Russia. Musa Khan Jalalzai
raising the level of mission performance if handled by competent operators relying on accurate intelligence”.
Recent warning of the Putin administration against the US low-yield nuclear weapon indicates that Russian forces are capable to destroy US Submarines in a short notice. On 29 April 2020; VoA reported reaction of Russian Foreign Ministry to the State Department paper that asserted that the low-yield weapons “reduce the risk of nuclear war by reinforcing extended deterrence and assurance”. Moreover, Federation of American Scientists warned (January 2020) that the U.S. Navy had deployed for the first time a submarine armed with a low-yield Trident nuclear warhead. The USS Tennessee deployed from Kings Bay Submarine Base in Georgia in 2019.
The W76-2 warhead, which is facing criticism at home and abroad, is estimated to have about a third of the explosive power of the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima. Any attack involving a U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missile, regardless of its weapon specifications, would be perceived as a nuclear aggression,” Russian Foreign Ministry warned. However, on 16 April 2020, Associated Press reported Chinese Foregn Ministry reponce to the allegations of U.S. State Department report about country’s secret nuclear test which is in violation of its international obligations.“China has always performed its international obligations and commitments in a responsible manner, firmly upheld multilateralism, and actively carried out international cooperation,” Foreiign Minister Spokeswoman said.
The Trump administration is in deep trouble since the test of Russia’s anti-satellite missiles, and its defeat in Afghanistan. NATO and the United States issued warning of Russian hybrid war against NATO and Europe, while they have destabilised Middle East and Central Asia and used nuclear and biological weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Europeans are well aware of their security and friendship with Russia. For the first time, Europe has extended hand of cooperation to Russia due to the hegemonic attitude of the Trump administration. In this big strategic game, Russians and Americans have the same reason for modernizing their nuclear forces. In yesteryears, President Vladimir Putin developed modern weapons and restored the real Russian place in international community. Since Russia seized Crimea in 2014, the Russians have begun to build up basing sites for their advanced systems, including the Iskanders, but nuclear experts warned that if Russia deploys nuclear weapons there, it will spark complex problems. Analyst Scott Ritter (RT News, 28 April, 2020) highlighted the START and complication of US and Russia’s inventions of moder technologies and weapons, which will exacerbate the process of nuclear war preparations:
“Both the US and Russia are engaged in the early stages of developing new strategic nuclear weapons to replace older systems. These weapons, which will cost trillions of dollars to develop and deploy, are with few exceptions still many years away from entering into service. A five-year extension of New START would provide both nations time to reach an agreement which responsibly addresses the need for strategic nuclear force modernization while continuing the past practice of seeking additional cuts in their respective nuclear arsenals...China’s intransigence runs counter to the official US position, most recently articulated in a State Department report sent to Congress regarding Russian compliance with the New START Treaty. While the report finds that Russia is complying with its treaty obligations, the treaty does not cover enough Russian strategic systems, including several that have been previously announced by President Putin, and leaves China to operate with no restrictions in terms of the size and scope of its strategic nuclear arsenal”.
Perhapse, China is also preparing to build new missiles technology, and expand anti-satellite capabilities and nuclear material production increase. The question is how China can use nuclear weapons as the country maintains the policy of peaceful coexistence? In 2019, its Defence White Paper noted the country sticked to the policy of no first use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances, but recent hostile nuclear environment has forced the country to deploy a nuclear triad of strategic land, sea, and air-launched nuclear systems to defend its territorial integrity and national security.Despite the progress made by international conventions, biological and chemical weapons still are precarious threat in Europe and Central Asia. There are 183 states parties to the BWC, and 193 states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The rapid spread of coronavirus in Europe and Russia has created awareness in the region that biological war is not in the interests of the region.
According to Russia’s new military doctrine the possibility of limited uses of nuclear weapons at the tactical and operational levels and of chemical and biological weapons is possible. As the United States and NATO have established biological weapons laboratories in Central Asia and Afghanistan and used these weapons against the civilian population of Afghanistan, Russian military leadership has taken these developments seriously. However, weaponization of Coronavirus by some states to further their political interests might prompt adverse effects. Russia is training its chemical and biological army on modern streak. New CBRN defense vehicles and equipment can be used in the fight against coronavirus. Its forces have also undertaken more CBRN training to the future war effectively. The danger from these weapons is so consternating, and the dirty bomb material and its fatalities diverted attention of terrorist groups to biological weapons. Smuggling of nuclear weapons is a serious challenge in Europe and Central Asia, while smuggling of these weapons in Africa and Europe has threatened security of the region. In 2019, more than 189 incidents of nuclear and biological weapons smuggling were reported by 36 States, indicating that illegal activities continue to occur. International efforts to reduce the loss of material control have failed due to the smugglers changing startegies. Georgia and Moldova are the two states where smuggling of dirty bomb materials and nuclear agents is in progress. However, there are reports that the ISIS wants to go nuclear. In March 2016, after the ISIS-linked bombings in Brussels, reports consirmed a member of the ISIS tried to access to radioactive materials.
The international community demonstrated criminal negligence while the US army used Mother of Bombs-full of biological and chemical material against the civilians of a poor and ruined state in Jalalabad Province of Afghanistan. This was a shameless war crime of the CIA and Pentagon that killed innocent women and children and infected thousands by incurable diseases. No state reacted or felt the pain of the tortured civilian population. All member states of the European Union, Britain, Saudi Arabis, Pakistan, Iran, Canada, and Australia are equally responsible partners and co-conspirators for this crime against humanity. The US army used biological weapons in Afghanistan and bombed the country 59,000 times by using its military bases in Pakistan. On 04 October 2018, Defence Ministry of Russia warned that the American army was running a clandestine biological weapons lab in Georgia.
Maj. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian military’s radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, alleged at a briefing that the lab in Georgia was part of a network of US labs near the borders of Russia and China. Pentagon opened Lugar Centre in 2013, where different types of insects have been developing. However, Maj. Gen. Igor Kirillov warned that the spread of viral diseases in southern Russia could have been linked to the activities of the Lugar Center. He pointed to the spread of the African swine fever (ASF) from Georgia since 2007 that caused massive losses for the Russian farm sector. On 04 January 2018, Express Tribune published a statement of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, in his reply to the US accusation:
“You have asked what we did. A dictator surrendered on a single phone call, our country witnessed the worse bloodbath, you carried out 57,800 attacks on Afghanistan from our bases, your forces were supplied arms and explosives through our soil, thousands of our civilians and soldiers became victims of the war initiated by you. We considered your enemy as our own, we filled the Guantanamo Bay, and we served you with such an enthusiasm that we left our country with load shedding and gas shortage. We tried to please you on the cost of our economy; we provided tens of thousands of visas as a result of which the networks of Black Water spread across our country”.
Now, Pakistan is dancing to the CIA and Pentagon tangos once more by supporting, recruiting, and serving the sexual needs of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) to turn Central Asia, Afghanistan and Russia into a new battlefield of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Scholar and Lecturer Department of Social Sciences, Lahore Garrison University