NEW YORK, Feb 5: The US State Department has declined to hold the government of Pakistan responsible for nuclear technology transfer by some scientists and said: "We think they (Pakistan government) are addressing the issue in a serious manner and we've been following this closely."

At a press briefing on Wednesday dominated by questions about scientist A. Q. Khan's apology, spokesman Richard Boucher observed that steps taken by "the Pakistani government does, indeed, demonstrate that President Musharraf and the government of Pakistan take seriously their commitments, their assurances that they were not going to allow their technology to be used to help other nations that might be trying to develop weapons of mass destruction."

"We consider that this investigation and the seriousness with which they have pursued this matter testifies to the fact that they are serious about meeting their commitments in that regard," he asserted.

He reaffirmed: "We value those assurances and we think this - the way this has been proceeding - is evidence that Pakistan, too, is determined to meet those commitments."

Mr Boucher said: "Pakistan's president has assured the international community that he intends to make sure that Pakistan's nuclear technology, weapons of mass destruction expertise, does not contribute to proliferation, does not contribute to the development of those weapons elsewhere, and that they've taken a number of steps since that pledge was made to try to make it effective."