ABC Nightline: Pakistan's merchant of nukes, A. Q. Khan

[Bozita]

Nightline Daily E-Mail
March 8, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: He is a hero in his own country. But it turns out he was selling nuclear weapons technology to America's enemies. So why isn't the U.S. more upset?

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You've probably never heard of him, but A.Q. Khan is a hero in Pakistan. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he is responsible for Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. But he is more than that. He headed a network that sold the technology and the information needed to develop nuclear weapons to Libya, Iran, and possibly North Korea. The network was finally discovered, and its scope is still being determined. In a lot of ways, it sounds like a spy movie, except that it's very, very real.

Much of the network was uncovered in the end. And what happened? The President of Pakistan, a close ally of the U.S. in the war against terrorism, pardoned Kahn. It's important to remember the context here. The concern over the spread of weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons, is one of the driving forces of American foreign policy. The administration, as we all know by now, justified the invasion of Iraq in part by arguing that Saddam was trying to develop WMD's and had to be stopped. So why has the American reaction to the discovery of Khan's actions been so muted? We can certainly speculate, as there are lots of reports of a so-called "spring offensive" aimed at finally finding Osama bin Laden with the help of the Pakistani army, that Pakistan is more important as an ally. Bin Laden is thought to be somewhere in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, an area over which the Pakistani government has little control. But the Pakistani army is apparently moving into that area in larger numbers than ever before. Is there a trade-off?

It's a fascinating story, reported tonight by Chris Bury along with producer Jay Lamonica. I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington D.C. bureau