By Newsgram Staff Writer

Pakistan is again making South Asia's blood run cold by its actions. It has sunk deeper into chaos, threatened by economic collapse, the weakening of political institutions and, most of all, a Taliban insurgency that aims to bring down the state.

But the biggest threat to the world is that Pakistan is continuing to build up its nuclear arsenal, now estimated at 250 weapons.

"Pakistan, with the world's fastest-growing nuclear arsenal, is unquestionably the biggest concern in South Asia," a leading US daily reported.

The New York Times said that "These investments reflect the Pakistani Army's continuing obsession with India as the enemy."

Pakistan allows its Generals to maintain maximum power over the government and demand maximum national resources. The newspaper reported that Pakistan has plans to purchase eight diesel-electric submarines from China, which could be equipped with nuclear missiles, and test-firing a ballistic missile that appears capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to any part of India.

"Pakistan now has an arsenal of as many as 120 nuclear weapons and is expected to triple that in a decade," the report said.

"An increase of that size makes no sense, especially since India's nuclear arsenal, estimated at about 110 weapons, is growing more slowly."

"Even more troubling, the Pakistani Army has become increasingly dependent on the nuclear arsenal because Pakistan cannot match the size and sophistication of India's conventional forces," it said.

"This is not a situation that can be ignored by the major powers, however preoccupied they may be by the long negotiations with Iran," the report said.