Washington: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has taken credit for American diplomacy in many international developments including the recent thaw in Indo-Pak relations and busting of the alleged proliferation network of Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan.

Powell expressed appreciation for the work, "The US missions around the world are doing for the American people," he said at a testimony before the Senate International Relations Committee yesterday (Feb 12, 2004).

"Suddenly, you find a Libya that is willing to give up its weapons of mass destruction. Suddenly, you go from a situation where India and Pakistan were almost at war with each other 18 months ago and we were worried about nuclear conflagration on the subcontinent, to a point now where they are cooperating with each other and moving forward, and even starting to inch up on the difficult issue of Kashmir.

"And we find that Pakistan feels sufficiently confident in their position, and with our help and pressure, we are dealing with the A Q Khan situation and we are going to get that network all ripped up," Powell said.

Meanwhile, ranking member of the Committee, Joseph Biden, expressed serious doubts on claims that Khan was solely responsible for the proliferation.

"I find the idea, I could be wrong that the ISI (Inter State Intelligence) and the Pakistani military had nothing to do with A Q Khan's proliferation activities. I find that absolutely, totally completely beyond my comprehension," he said.