In its March 2026 Annual Threat Assessment of The US Intelligence Community report, the US Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has highlighted Pakistan a 'Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA)' of Washington, as on the path to developing missile technology that can threaten the US itself.

Under the "Homeland Defence" section of the report, ODNI states that apart from US adversaries China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, "Pakistan have been researching and developing an array of novel, advanced, or traditional missile delivery systems with nuclear and conventional payloads, that can strike the homeland."

As if not to let the threat assessment washout in the noise of being mentioned alongside expected US adversaries, the report also clearly states in the South Asia sub-section of the report’s Regional Challenges sections that "Pakistan continues to develop increasingly sophisticated missile technology that provides its military the means to develop missile systems with the capability to strike targets beyond South Asia, and if these trends continue, ICBMs that would threaten the US."

In December 2024, the Biden administration had first revealed that Pakistan was pursuing the development of large rocket motors capable of propelling projectiles such as nuclear tipped ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US homeland.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the then US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer was also quoted as saying "so candidly, it is hard for us to see Pakistan’s actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States."

The US had also sanctioned state owned enterprises and private companies belonging to Pakistan in December 2024 for allegedly developing Islamabad’s long range missile capabilities and supplying equipment for it.

The March 2026 ODNI report, while identifying India as "developing new and longer-range nuclear delivery systems", didn’t highlight it as a threat to the US unlike Pakistan.

ODNI continues to acknowledge the risk of a nuclear conflict arising out of the bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, especially making reference to the 2025 Pahalgam terrorist attack in India’s Jammu and Kashmir which demonstrated that a large scale regional conflict could spark from similar provocations.

While Pakistan and its territory remain an important strategic chip in the larger geopolitical game Washington is playing, the relationship has clearly changed since the days of the US using Pakistan as a forward base to aid Afghan Mujahidin fighters against Soviet troops in the 1980s.

The public concern about Islamabad’s long range precision weapons now signals that the US has foresight about funding and abetting allies and their capabilities that can one day be weaponised against it.

The US has criticised Pakistan in the past for harbouring and supporting militants, with then US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton famously saying "you can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours", during a joint press conference with Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in 2011.

As the March 2026 ODNI report highlight however, the threat to US national security is multi faceted and brings up the smuggling of deadly narcotics as a key concern originating from South and East Asia. The report highlights that "China and India remain the primary source countries for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment."

However, the text of the report also appreciates that India is willing to deepen counternarcotics engagement with the US. This indicates that Washington recognises that India views the menace of illicit narcotics production and smuggling operations as a shared national security concern.