Senior Research Associate
Sameer Ali Khan is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, Islamabad, where he is working on issues relating to emerging and disruptive technologies and their impact on national and international security. Sameer Ali Khan holds a Masters degree in Strategic and Nuclear Studies from the National Defence University (NDU), Pakistan.Prior to joining CASS, he was serving as Assistant Director (Research) at the Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs (ACDA) Branch of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division (SPD). His publications include a research paper on the ‘S-400 Deployment in South Asia and the US’ Regional Interests’ (2019), a co-authored paper on ‘Outer Space and Strategic Stability in South Asia’ (2019), a co-authored paper on ‘Debating Potential Doctrinal Changes in India’s Nuclear Ambitions’ (2018), and a book chapter titled ‘Indian Nuclear Reprocessing Program’ in ‘Indian Unsafeguarded Nuclear Program: An Assessment’ (2016). Previously, Mr Khan has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the South Asia Center of Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.; the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), Monterrey; and the Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC), Albuquerque. He has also done a fellowship at the Research Society for International Law (RSIL), Pakistan. Besides working on issues related to nuclear doctrines, command and control, safety and security, non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament, he has also worked on cyber security and militarisation of outer space. Over the past ten years, he has delivered lectures at the Foreign Service Academy (FSA), NDU and Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in Pakistan.
At the World Climate Action Summit of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 22 countries signed a declaration pledging to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050 in a bid to cut reliance on fossil fuels. Experts have pointed out that, ‘the pledge is completely, utterly unrealistic.’
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The ultimate bargain of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) includes a commitment from non-nuclear weapon states (NNWSs) to refrain from developing nuclear weapons. In return, nuclear weapon states (NWSs) promise disarmament and access to civil nuclear technology. NNWSs also demanded legally binding assurances against threats or attacks involving nuclear weapons.
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On 18 October 2023, the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) voted unanimously to de-ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty seeks to ban nuclear tests of all kinds, by all states, anywhere. It has 187 signatories and 178 ratifications. Russia had signed the CTBT on 24 September 1996, once it was opened for signature, and ratified the treaty in 2000.
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The Middle East has traditionally remained a hotbed of regional conflicts and interstate rivalries which have almost always seen involvement of extra-regional forces. While the past decade has seen intensification of these conflicts and increased anxieties owing to perceived Iranian nuclear ambitions, there have also been major moments of
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On 20th June, Pakistan and China inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for construction of a new 1200 Megawatt electric (MWe)
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The concept of ‘strategic stability’ was originally defined during the Cold War to refer to a stable relationship between two nuclear-armed adversaries, where the likelihood of a crisis escalating to the use of nuclear weapons was minimised.
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