NEW YORK, Feb 10: The US State Department said categorically on Monday that "the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf has indeed stopped the (nuclear proliferation) activity that was going on."

At a press briefing in Washington, spokesman Richard Boucher asserted "the Pakistani government, both through the president and the foreign ministry statements, has made clear that they're going to find out everything they can and share that information with the International Atomic Energy Agency."

Mr Boucher also noted that "the president of Pakistan has made clear that the pardon is conditional that there be no activity from this particular individual, and that they are continuing to investigate the others who might have been involved in this activity so that they do get to the bottom of it."

When asked about the pardon of Dr Khan, whether it was conditional, Mr Boucher said "I haven't followed every single statement the Pakistani government has made. I don't think it was said in that particular one. But I think that has been, to some extent, the understanding all along was that this pardon, or whatever, was being given so that - provided they did not participate in any sort of activities like this in the future."

He added "but I'd leave it to them. That was the understanding, basic understanding, I think we all had."

When asked to comment on the visit to Pakistan recently by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Mr Boucher said: "The subject of non-proliferation in Pakistan has been one that he (Armitage) has worked on since the beginning of the administration and discussed in various terms many times with the Pakistani government.

"It's always been important to us that Pakistan take action against possible proliferation. And we've seen the commitments and we've seen action now," he added.

On the question about Pakistan's cooperation with the US on the new US forces' spring offensive inside Afghanistan, Mr Boucher said "there is indeed cooperation on both sides of the border. There's tripartite cooperation between the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the border areas to try to make sure that we all do our part in tracking down the remnants of Al Qaeda and the Taliban that may be in those areas, and making sure that they are rooted out, that the government authority is established in those areas where, for a long time, there was not much authority, and that we take care of the problem together."