WASHINGTON, Sept 10: A US think-tank has claimed that the so-called Khan network of nuclear proliferators is still functioning despite Islamabad and Washington’s claims that it has been dismantled.

The Council on Foreign Relations also accused Pakistan of interfering with investigators’ inquiries.

“US officials claim that the Khan network has been dismantled and the Pakistani government says the case is closed, but according to a testimony before the House subcommittee on international terrorism and non-proliferation, that is not the case,” said a CFR newsletter issued this weekend.

The CFR’s “daily analysis” quotes Leonard Weiss, an independent non-proliferation expert, telling Congress that ‘at least some parts of the network are definitely still functioning.’

“The story of A.Q. Khan underscores the importance of non-proliferation efforts in an era when technology and expanding trade increasingly favour smugglers.

“Such a challenge requires a creative solution, and the proliferation security initiative a project of the Bush administration, may hold some of the answers. An interactive guide from MSNBC describes how renegade nations may go about concealing their own nuclear programmes,” the newsletter notes.

The release also quotes David Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security as telling Congress that the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA officials have not been able to question Dr Khan directly and that ‘key questions remain unanswered.’

Quoting from another article in the New Yorker magazine, the CFR newsletter claims that experts are accusing Pakistan of interfering with investigators’ inquiries. Journalist Steve Coll says in a Q and A on the New Yorker’s website, “it’s presumed that one reason is that Dr Khan knows quite a lot about how Pakistani generals and other leaders have endorsed or profited from his global trade,” the CFR analyst points out.

According to the newsletter the so-called Khan network inspired nightmares for non-proliferation and security officials, and former CIA Director George tenet even described Dr Khan as ‘at least as dangerous as Osama bin Laden.’

“By 2003, western intelligence officials were onto Khan, and that October they managed to intercept a shipment of centrifuge parts destined for Libya. The seizure marked the beginning of the end for the Khan network.”