Fighting Words: Biden Rebuked for Calling Nuclear-Armed Country ‘One of the Most Dangerous Nations’

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the U.S. ambassador on Saturday to express their “disappointment and concern” after President Joe Biden called Pakistan “one of the most dangerous nations in the world.”

The president made the remark at a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Los Angeles while discussing Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“This is a guy who understands what he wants but has an enormous, enormous array of problems. How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” Biden said at the event, according to a transcript posted by the White House.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that his country takes nuclear safety measures “with the utmost seriousness.”

“Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state and we are proud that our nuclear assets have the best safeguards as per IAEA requirements,” Sharif tweeted on Saturday.

Let me reiterate unequivocally: Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state and we are proud that our nuclear assets have the best safeguards as per IAEA requirements. We take these safety measures with the utmost seriousness. Let no one have any doubts.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 15, 2022