Washington, Nov. 8: The US is negotiating “highly sensitive understandings” with the Pakistani military which may allow elite American units to provide added security for the country’s nuclear arsenal in case of a crisis, including a coup by rogue and extremist elements within the Army.

A concerned Obama administration has been negotiating with the Pakistani military about its nuclear arsenal, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine.

During meetings with current and former officials in Washington and Pakistan, Hersh was told that the agreements would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis.

At the same time, the Pakistani military would be given money to equip and train its soldiers and to improve their housing and facilities, the report says.

The principal fear was that extremists inside the military might stage a coup, take control of some nuclear assets, or even divert a warhead, Hersh notes.

A former US senior intelligence official said, “We got their security plans, so we could augment them in case of a breach of security. We’re there to help the Pakistanis, but we’re also there to extend our own axis of security to their nuclear stockpile.”

However, both Pakistan and the US dismissed the report. The US Ambassador, Ms Anne Patterson, said the report was “completely false” while Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Mr Abdul Basit described the assertions in the article as “totally baseless”.