Nuclear weapons, Taliban in focus as Obama meets Pakistan's Sharif

U.S. President Barack Obama met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the White House on Thursday and was expected to stress U.S. concerns over Pakistan's expanding nuclear arsenal and to press Sharif to help bring the Taliban back to talks.

Washington has been trying to persuade Pakistan to make a declaration of "restraint" over its nuclear program but Pakistani officials said Sharif would tell Obama Islamabad will not accept limits on its use of small tactical nuclear weapons.

Analysts also question whether Sharif has sufficient influence with his own security establishment to get them to press the Taliban to return to talks on Afghanistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is pushing for a negotiated settlement to the 14-year insurgency, which has escalated since tens of thousands of U.S.-led NATO combat troops withdrew ahead of an end-2014 deadline. The two sides held inaugural talks in Pakistan in July but the process has since stalled.

While the Washington talks were expected to focus on nuclear weapons and Islamist militancy, the Obama administration is preparing to sell Pakistan eight F-16 fighter jets in an attempt to bolster the relationship, a U.S. source familiar with the matter said.

The sale, which Congress could block, would be a symbolic step given Pakistan's already large fleet of fighters. - Read More at reuters

Nuclear weapons, Taliban in focus as Obama meets Pakistan's Sharif

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