Bin Laden Sought Nuke Info From Pakistan

WASHINGTON, Monday - Agents for the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network contacted at least ten Pakistani nuclear scientists for help in starting a nuclear weapons programme inside Afghanistan, the newspaper USA Today reported today, quoting senior US and Pakistani officials. Several of the Pakistani scientists — which included sympathisers of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia — accepted the offers, but said they would work only with Pakistani government approval, US officials with direct knowledge of the offers told the paper. The offers were made in Pakistan within the past two years and were in the “early stages,” Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency told the paper. Only one of the scientists had traveled to Afghanistan since the offers were made, ISI officials told the paper. US officials on Sunday cast doubts over terror suspect bin Laden’s claim to possess nuclear weapons, but did say he was trying to get such means of mass destruction and would not hesitate to use them. Top US officials also said it was likely that bin Laden, had chemical and biological weapons. “I think it’s unlikely he has a nuclear weapon,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on CBS, adding that he “certainly wants them, there’s no question.” AFP Ends