US and UK diplomats¹ feared Pakistan's nuclear material could fall into the hands of terrorists, the latest leaked classified US diplomatic cables reveal.

近日泄露的机密美国外交电报显示，美国与英国外交官唯恐巴基斯坦的核材料落入恐怖分子手中。

previously² dismissed fears over its nuclear arsenal³" src="http://www.enread.com/upimg/allimg/101201/4_101201054038_1.jpg" width="304" height="171" />
Pakistan has previously dismissed fears over its nuclear arsenal
The documents, released by Wikileaks, warn that Pakistan is rapidly building its nuclear stockpile（库存，积蓄） despite the country's growing instability.

There is also scepticism about whether Pakistan could cut links with militants⁵.

"There is no chance ... for abandoning support for these groups," said then-US ambassador Anne Patterson.

The Pakistan government, she added, saw militant⁴ groups "as an important part of its national security apparatus⁶（装置，设备） against India".

In one of the latest cables to be released by Wikileaks, senior UK Foreign Office official Mariot Leslie told US diplomats in September 2009 that Britain had "deep concerns about the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons".

In another cable seven months earlier, Ms Patterson told Washington: "Our major concern is not having an Islamic militant steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in government of Pakistan facilities could gradually smuggle⁷ enough material out to eventually make a weapon."

Another cable concerning a US intelligence briefing in 2008 said: "Despite pending⁸ economic catastrophe⁹, Pakistan is producing nuclear weapons at a faster rate than any other country in the world."

The US also expressed concern about tensions between the powerful Pakistani army and President Asif Ali Zardari.

In material from March 2009, US cables noted¹⁰ that army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani might "however reluctantly" put pressure on President Zadari to stop down, although he "distrusted [opposition leader] Nawaz [Sharif] even more".

Reliability¹¹ questioned

The US has condemned¹² the Wikileaks disclosures as an attack on the world community.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the diplomatic service relied, as did other professions such as law and medicine, on confidential¹³ communications to conduct some important business.

She said the international partnerships¹⁴ the US had worked hard to build would withstand（抵挡，反抗） the challenge posed by the leak cables.

The latest cache of messages, published by the UK Guardian¹⁵ newspaper, shows that Russia shared US and UK concerns over Pakistan.

Yuri Korolev of the Russian foreign ministry¹⁶ told US officials in February that "Islamists are not only seeking power in Pakistan but are also trying to get their hands on nuclear materials".

"There are 120,000-130,000 people directly involved in Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes. There is no way to guarantee that all are 100% loyal and reliable," he said.

He said that extremists were able to recruit more easily.

"Pakistan has had to hire people to protect nuclear facilities that have especially strict religious beliefs, and recently the general educational and cultural levels in Pakistan has been falling," he says in the cable.