[link|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040207/us_nm/pakistan_nuclear_usa_dc_3|Well, that's nice]

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is working with Pakistan to protect its nuclear technology from falling into the hands of extremists, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

We have had discussions with Pakistan on the need for Pakistan to safeguard its technology and its nuclear material. We are confident they are taking the necessary steps," the official told Reuters.

He commented after NBC Television's "Nightly News" program reported that since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, American nuclear experts grouped as the "U.S. Liaison Committee" have spent millions of dollars to safeguard more than 40 weapons in Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

"Meeting every two months, they are helping Pakistan develop state of the art security, including secret authorization codes for the arsenal," the network reported.

But the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that U.S. law and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, a cornerstone of efforts to curb the spread of weapons, "prevent any direct involvement with (Pakistan's) nuclear weapons."

"So we've had discussions with them generally about how they safeguard nuclear material," he said.

"We don't want their materials to get into the wrong hands but won't go over the edge of our law and the NPT," he said.

The reports about the U.S. role in Pakistan came in the midst of revelations that the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, sold nuclear secrets to Libya and two members of President Bush (news - web sites)'s "axis of evil," North Korea (news - web sites) and Iran.

After confessing on television to blackmarket nuclear technology dealings and absolving Pakistan's military and government of blame, Khan was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf in an apparent effort to lay the controversy to rest.

The United States has strongly defended Musharraf's handling of the scandal, reflecting a balancing act between its usual aggressive stance on punishing proliferation and its firm support for the Pakistani leader, a key ally in the U.S. anti-terror war.

I say:

No, it's not quite good enough for me either. [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=36486|Like I've said] we owe him, but only up to a point. We're getting parlously close to that point now.

(Oh, and what's that about him not allowing US troops in to finish off the Taliban and al Qadea? As if he can stop us? As if he'd even know? The guy seems to be suffering from a delusion that he's actually in control of that whole country.)