NEW YORK, March 28: US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday that there is no evidence or proof that President Pervez Musharraf knew or was in any way involved in the proliferation activities of scientist Dr A. Q. Khan.
Responding to charges, that nuclear proliferation could not have taken place without the knowledge of top officials of Pakistan army including Gen Musharraf, Mr Rumsfeld maintained in an interview with ABC news programme "This Week" he is convinced that Gen Musharraf was unaware of Dr Khan's proliferation activities.
He added that he also believed neither Pakistan army nor the government helped Dr Khan's proliferation network and blamed individual scientists for the proliferation activities.
President Musharraf in an interview broadcast earlier also denied any knowledge of Dr Khan's activities asserting "the (US) State department knows that neither army nor government was involved."
He blamed the speculations about involvement of Pakistani army and government officials on the US media and experts who were not in the loop. He praised Gen Musharraf's unwavering support to the American efforts to eradicate Al Qaeda network despite opposition in "his own country" and assassination attempts against him.
US Defence Secretary admitted that arresting or killing Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden would not end the terrorist attacks in the United States but added "it would be good."
In the interview Mr Rumsfeld sought to counter the contention of President Bush's former chief counterterrorism adviser, Richard Clarke, who testified last week that the administration was preoccupied with Iraq and ignored the threat posed by Osama and his Al Qaeda terrorist network.
"If one looks at what was done, we went to Afghanistan, we didn't go to Iraq," Rumsfeld said. "It was a highly successful effort and it did not destroy Al Qaeda.
But it certainly took away their training, their haven, and it certainly destroyed the Taliban and eliminated them from running that country. That's what the president's action was. It wasn't Iraq. It was Afghanistan."
Asked if Bush should apologize for the government's failure to prevent the attacks, Rumsfeld said the president has made clear his sorrow. "If you're looking for the president to have said his heartbreak over what took place, he's said it.
He said it well. And he's touched the lives of many of the people who are suffering from that terrible attack," Rumsfeld told ABC's "This Week." In public hearings last week to an independent commission investigating the attacks, Mr Clarke apologized to the families of Sept 11 victims. He said their government failed them and he did, too.
Mr Rumsfeld said the commission's review should look forward and identify actions the administration should be taking to prevent future attacks. "One of the things that has to come out of this, I hope, is a truth, and the truth is these attacks aren't over. There will be other attacks," he said.
