Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to press President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for more information on the help a rogue Pakistani scientist, A. Q. Khan, is believed to have given Iran to develop a nuclear weapons program, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Speaking on the eve of talks that Ms. Rice plans to hold with Indian and Pakistani leaders on the first leg of her trip to Asia, the official said that Pakistan had been helpful in the past on sharing information from its own investigation of Dr. Khan, but that the administration wanted more. "We have been getting good cooperation from the Pakistanis," the official said when asked about the investigation into Iran. "They have been pursuing this. Of course we always want more. We always discuss nonproliferation with the Pakistanis. I am sure we will discuss it this time. I am sure A. Q. Kahn will come up."
The official did not specify what sort of information the United States wanted. But there is heightened interest in what European and American officials have said was a document recently turned over to international investigators showing that Iran had discussed with Dr. Khan's network the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons technologies some 18 years ago. A European diplomat said last month that the discussions had included an offer by Mr. Khan's representatives to provide technologies that included the process of casting uranium metal, a critical step toward making a bomb. |