India and Pakistan's Nuclear Arms Race

What is behind the nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan? John Wolfsthal, Director of Global Risk at the Federation of American Scientists, says, "There's a lot of history behind India and Pakistan's nuclear program. India's program goes back to the early 1970s. It was seen as a route to both national strength and prestige. Pakistan, which is 1/10 the size of India was very concerned about India's nuclear program, and saw nuclear weapons as the only way they could match India's conventional capability. There's no way that Pakistan could ever go toe to toe with India conventionally. And so the two countries developed their own regional arms race...We now India and Pakistan see really full on nuclear arms racing and an expansion of the nuclear capabilities that not only threatens to engulf both countries, but could very quickly involve China, Russia, even the United States."
This interview from the FPA archives was recorded in 2019