Though it was under Mr. Sharif, in 1998, that Pakistan caught up with its neighbor and conducted its first test of a nuclearweapon, the man who is poised to lead Pakistan's next government is making rapprochement with India a cornerstone of his policy.
Countries other than the recognized nuclear powers who attempt to test a weapon must first manufacture or obtain a weapon, which would constitute a violation of the NPT.
To the extent possible, nonnuclear tests are used to assess weapon safety and performance and together with past nucleartest results are used to validate computer simulations.
The Bush administration does not support the treaty, but the test moratorium and too many other Clinton-era nuclearweapon policies remain in effect, nonetheless.