Is Pakistan building ICBMs? Non-proliferation experts dispute US warning

2026.03.20 02:50 Pakistan’s Shaheen-3 missile is on display during a military parade in Islamabad in 2018. Photo: AP A US intelligence assessment warning of a potential threat from Pakistan’s prospective intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) has been challenged by nuclear non-proliferation experts, who say Islamabad’s defence programme is focused on regional deterrence rather than targeting the American “homeland”. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the US Senate on Wednesday that Pakistan – along with China, Iran, North Korea and Russia – has been “researching and developing an array of novel, advanced or traditional missile delivery systems with nuclear and conventional payloads that can strike the homeland”. Gabbard said despite the rise of one-way attack drones, these five countries “will continue to prioritise advanced missiles that can threaten the US”. However, their militaries “almost certainly will plan to pair their high-end missiles with cheaper, expendable systems to stress US missile defences”, she said. On Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi “categorically rejected” the US claims, saying the country’s strategic capabilities were “exclusively defensive in nature, aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and maintaining peace and stability in South Asia”. He said Islamabad’s missile programme “remains well below intercontinental range … [and] is firmly rooted in the doctrine of credible minimum deterrence vis-a-vis India”. The Shaheen-3 missile allows Pakistan to project power as far as 2,750km (1,708 miles), putting New Delhi’s strategic targets on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in its range. As Israel is already within reach of the Shaheen-3, Pakistan’s extension of its missile capabilities by several hundred kilometres would not alter the strategic threat perceptions of the US ally. Islamabad’s efforts should not be construed as being part of any plans to deploy missiles capable of reaching anywhere

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