Clinton Orders Fresh Policy Options

President Clinton, worried that Pakistan will eventually detonate a tit-for-tat nuclear test, ordered aides Sunday to map fresh U.S. policy options to stem a threatening nuclear arms race in South Asia.

Clinton gave the directive as jittery leaders from the world’s eight most influential democracies anxiously compared notes about whether Pakistan would conduct a nuclear test in response to India’s underground nuclear tests last week.

“It hasn’t happened yet,” Clinton said following a meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin. “I hope they will not. And if they do, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Clinton, who has expressed frustration over the difficulty of stopping a nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan, said he ordered the policy update because “we’re going to have to work through this situation to turn it back around.”

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said the Clinton administration would “move very quickly in thinking about next steps.” He declined to elaborate.

James Steinberg, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, said the Clinton administration hopes to roll back the nuclear arms race in South Asia by persuading India to give up a quest for nuclear arms even though the Indians successfully tested five nuclear devices last week after a 24-year hiatus.