WASHINGTON, Jan 19: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that the United States has discussed with Pakistan the possibility of its nuclear weapons falling into the hands of religious militants but she cannot talk about it publicly.

During her confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ms Rice said so far the US was happy with the cooperation it was receiving from Pakistan in retrieving information from scientist Dr A.Q. Khan but she did not know what information Washington might need in the future.

Although the issue of the so-called Khan network kept popping up throughout the hearing, Senator John F. Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential election, widened the discussion by raising questions about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear assets.

"If you were to have a successful coup in Pakistan, you could have, conceivably, nuclear weapons in the hand of a radical Islamic state automatically, overnight," said Senator Kerry.

"And to the best of my knowledge, in all of the inquiries that I've made in the course of the last years, there is now no failsafe procedure in place to guarantee against that weaponry falling into the wrong hands," he said.

Ms Rice said: "Senator, we have noted this problem, and we are prepared to try to deal with it. I would prefer not to talk about this particular issue in open session."

The senator said he attended several private briefings as a presidential candidate, where the problem was discussed, and he "found the answers highly unsatisfactory". "We're very aware of the problem, senator, and we have had some discussions. But I really would prefer not to discuss that," said Ms Rice.

The issue of Pakistan's nuclear weapons came up for discussion again when later in the evening on Tuesday Senator Kerry sought Ms Rice's comments on an article in the New Yorker magazine which claimed that in return for an assurance that America would not ask for access to Dr Khan, Islamabad had helped Washington send US agents into Iran on reconnaissance missions.

"Let me just speak about the handling of A.Q. Khan. What we have been concerned about is that we are able to get the information that we need to break up the network. We have not made any deals about what happens with him," said Ms Rice.

Talking about Pakistan's refusal to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to interview Dr Khan, Ms Rice said: "This is a matter that's being handled by the Pakistanis. It is not our place to talk about what should or should not happen with the IAEA, and we have not."

But Senator Kerry was not willing to give up the issue yet and asked Ms Rice if the US interests were still being served if it did not have direct access to Dr Khan. "They're being served at this point," said Ms Rice.

"Adequately," asked the senator. "We are getting the information that we need to deal with the A.Q. Khan network," said Ms Rice. And then she added: "Senator, I don't know what we will need to ask in the future, but at this point, we have a good working relationship with Pakistan on this matter."