Quite creditable!

Daily Times, Lahore (Pakistan)
March 19, 2005

Pakistan itself exposed Khan network: US
* State Department says Pakistani govt not involved in nuclear proliferation
By Faiz Rehman

WASHINGTON: The United States has reposed confidence in the Pakistani government, saying the US believed that the leadership was not involved in the AQ Khan network, and the network was brought to light by the Pakistanis.

“We have a good understanding about how that network came about, how it operated and we certainly don’t see any connection with the leadership of Pakistan,” a State Department spokesman told reporters on Thursday.

He said the Pakistanis were the first to expose the Khan network and the US had no idea of the full scope of its activities. “We had information or we had indications that there was proliferation activity,” the spokesman said, adding, “we certainly didn’t have an idea of the full scope or nature of this activity until the Pakistanis revealed what was going on.”

The spokesman said that the US would continue “to follow up and work with the Pakistanis to dismantle completely that network and come to a full understanding of its scope and activities.” The spokesman refused to divulge details on how the US was going to accomplish the goal of seeing the network totally dismantled. He expressed concern over Iran’s alleged nuclear programme, saying that there were indications on Iran’s connections to Dr Khan. “Obviously we all want to get to the bottom of that.”

He said the US, the EU-3 and the International Atomic Energy Agency remained “concerned and committed” to the full details of the links between AQ Khan and Iran. He said the US would continue to bring this subject up in discussions with Pakistanis.