Pakistan hits back at Biden's 'dangerous nation' comment

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan pushed back Saturday against a comment by President Joe Biden in which he called the South Asian country “one of the most dangerous nations in the world.”

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said his office would summon the U.S. ambassador for an explanation, and the current prime minister and two former prime ministers rejected the statement as baseless.

Biden was at an informal fundraising dinner at a private residence in Los Angeles on Thursday sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee when he made the comment. Speaking about China and its leader Xi Jinping, he pondered the U.S.'s role in relation to China as it grapples with its positions on Russia, India and Pakistan.

“How do we handle that?” he said, according to a transcript on the White House web page. "How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”

Zardari said in Karachi on Saturday that he discussed the matter with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and it was decided to call the U.S. ambassador to the Foreign Office for an explanation of Biden's remarks.

“I believe this is exactly the sort of misunderstanding that is created when there is a lack of engagement,” he said, apparently referring to the former government of Imran Khan and its perceived lack of engagement in international diplomacy.

“When Pakistan has nuclear assets we know how to keep them safe and secure, how to protect them as well,” Zardari said.

Sharif in a statement rejected Biden's remarks calling them factually incorrect and misleading. He said Pakistan over the years has proved itself to be a responsible nuclear state, and its nuclear program is managed...