 "Restrain nuclear and missile programmes: US to Pakistan")
Higgins during the hearing alleged that Pakistan is not sincere in improving its relationship with India.
"Pakistan is involved in an arms race against what it believes is its existential threat with India. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Pakistan could have 350 nuclear warheads in the next decade, becoming the world's third biggest nuclear power, outpacing India, France, China, and the UK," he said.
"There is no positive sign of any improved relations with India because Pakistan justifies its nuclear proliferation as a deterrent against aggression from the outside. So the US has to get tougher with Pakistan. We have to call them out on this double game they have been playing, not this year, not last year, not five years but for the past 15 years," Higgins said.
"Pakistan, let's be truthful about this, plays a double game. They're are military partner, but they're the protector and the patron of our enemies. And this has been going on for 15 years. Since 2002, US aid to Pakistan, economic and military, has averaged about $2 billion a year. Pakistan's annual defence budget is only about $5 billion a year.
He said if Pakistan falls apart or if Islamic extremists take over, it's a nightmare scenario for the US.
"It's a big country, about 180 million people, it has a lot of Islamic extremists, and it has nuclear weapons. And to have Islamic extremists with nuclear weapons is a primary goal of al-Qaeda and it would be major victory for them and the outgrowth of al-Qaeda, the Islamic state and a major defeat for us, the US," Higgins added.