Amid concerns that terrorists could obtain material related to nuclear weapons from Pakistan, a latest Congressional report has said that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had "sent emissaries to establish contact" with the maligned A Q Khan network.
"Al Qaeda has also sought assistance from the Khan network," the Congressional Research Service said in its latest update of its report on 'Pakistans Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and Security Issues'.
CRS is a bi-partisan independent research wing of the US Congress which prepares reports on issues of concern for the lawmakers. The latest version of the report dated July 30 is an update of the March version.
According to former director of Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet, the US "received fragmentary information from an intelligence service" that in 1998 Laden had "sent emissaries to establish contact" with the network, the CRS report said.
Other Pakistani sources could also provide nuclear material to terrorist organisations. "Many observers are concerned that other States or terrorist organisations could obtain material or expertise related to nuclear weapons from Pakistan," the CRS said, adding that Pakistan began using clandestine procurement networks to develop its nuclear weapons programme in the 1970s.
"Former Pakistani nuclear official A Q Khan subsequently used a similar network to supply Libya, North Korea, and Iran with material related to uranium enrichment," it said.
According to a 2005 report by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Al Qaeda "had established contact with Pakistani scientists who discussed development of nuclear devices that would require hard to-obtain materials like uranium to create a nuclear explosion".
Tenet explained that these scientists were affiliated with an organisation separate from the Khan network, the CRS said in its 21-page report.
The current status of Pakistan's nuclear export network is unclear, although most official US reports indicate that, at least, it has been damaged considerably, it said.
Asked in a July 20, 2009, interview whether North Korea was transferring "nuclear weapons" or related advice to North Korea, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton replied that there was "no evidence" that Pakistan is doing so.
However, when asked about the network's current status during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in July 2007, then Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns had replied: "I cannot assert that no part of that network exists, but it's my understanding based on our conversations with the Pakistanis that the network has been fundamentally dismantled.
"But to say that there are no elements in Pakistan, I'm not sure I could say that."
Early this week, the State Department said the US still considered Khan a proliferation risk.
On January 12, the State Department had imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and three companies for their involvement in the Khan network under the Export-Import Bank Act, the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act, and Executive Orders 12938 and 13382.
