ABSTRACT
On May 11 and 13, 1998, the BJP government of India conducted a series of nuclear tests in the barren deserts of the Pokhran region. In response to these tests, neighboring Pakistan conducted its own round of nuclear explosions on May 28, 1998, in the Chagai Hills of Baluchistan. As required by law (under the Glenn Amendment), the United States immediately placed both nations under economic sanctions. According to Undersecretary of State Strobe Talbott, who has become the chief U.S. interlocutor with the South Asian neighbors since their respective tests:
[The sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan] were necessary for several reasons. First, it's the law. Second, sanctions create a disincentive for other states to exercise the nuclear option if they are contemplating it. And third, sanctions are part of our effort to keep faith with the much larger number of nations that have renounced nuclear weapons despite their capacity to develop them. 1
