Washington: Pakistan has assured the US that it will provide Washington and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) with information from AQ Khan and his associates even as Islamabad continues to develop nuclear weapon and missile programme, Under-secretary of State John Bolton has said.

Pakistan President Musharraf "has assured the United States that he will provide us, and the IAEA with information from Khan and his associates that we can use to advance our investigations into the Khan network and worldwide trading in nuclear weapons technology," he told the House International Committee yesterday (Mar 30, 2004). "The United States Government is working cooperatively with Pakistan to improve its export control regimes and non-proliferation policies. While Pakistan has not conducted nuclear explosive tests since 1998, it continues to develop nuclear weapon and missile programmes," Bolton said.

"Our recent non-proliferation focus with Pakistan," he said, "is to work with the Government of Pakistan to eliminate once and for all the network of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the so-called 'father' of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme."

"Recent revelations have implicated Khan in leading an international network working in Europe, Asia and Africa that sold Uranium enrichment technology and equipment to rogue States... we have been concerned about the scope and breadth of Khan's activities for quite some time.

"What we have learned about the international black market in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) shows how sophisticated WMD proliferators are, and how skilled they are in deception and camouflage," he said.