India, US disagree on Khan-Mush episode

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />WASHINGTON: The United States and India, despite their famed strategic partnership of late, are disagreeing publicly on <a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/481877.cms" target="_blank">Pakistan</a>. <br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="18.9%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><a href="/articleshow/468409.cms" target="_blank"><img src="/photo/483236.cms" alt="/photo/483236.cms" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="articleshow/474279.cms">Abdul Qadeer Khan</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">While New Delhi says Pakistan''s nuclear shenanigans exposed over the past few weeks are not the country''s internal matter and needs <a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/479015.cms" target="_blank">international scrutiny</a> and discussion, <a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/480928.cms" target="_blank">Washington</a> is backing Islamabad in quickly putting a lid on the whole issue.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday that Washington''s primary goal was containing proliferation and busting <a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/478892.cms" target="_blank">Khan</a> and his network had met that goal.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">As for accountability and <a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/477648.cms" target="_blank">pardoning issues</a>, Powell asserted that it was a matter between Khan, who he pointed out is a Pakistani citizen, and his government. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Washington incidentally has extradited, often without due process, scores of Pakistani citizens on assorted charges including terrorism. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Powell also defended <a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/479943.cms" target="_blank">Musharraf''s</a> pardoning of Khan saying it is "something that he felt it was appropriate for him to do and he has explained his position thoroughly," although he did say to whom the explanation was made to. "But it is a matter also that I''ll be talking to President Musharraf about," Powell added. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />It is likely he will also be talking to his Indian counterpart Yashwant Sinha to explain Washington''s thinking.<br /><br />But for now the administration''s line is getting panned by eminent US analysts. "I can''t think of any(one) who deserves less to be pardoned than A Q Khan ... ," David Kay, the former chief US weapons hunter in Iraq who has shaken the administration with his resignation, said at a conference on Thursday.<br /><br />The Bush administration''s kid glove handling of Pakistan has also brought a torrent of outrage and criticism from the US and international media. Particularly in the context of the war on Iraq on non-existent WMD grounds, American commentators are asking why Pakistan, described by one expert as "Iraq with nuclear weapons," is being spared.<br /><br />US officials are conceding in private that Washington is constrained by the help it needs from Islamabad in the war on terrorism. They are also indicating that they have made inroads into Pakistan''s nuclear program by being cooperative instead of confrontational (see earlier/accompanying story).<br /><br />"It''s just another case where you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," one official was quoted as saying. "And there''s a lot of flies to be caught in Pakistan."<br /><br />Some analysts are linking Washington''s mild treatment of Islamabad to an upcoming spring offensive against the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda for which the Pakistani Army is being primed. <br /><br />Finishing off the renegades in Pakistan''s border regions -- especially if it nets Osama bin Laden between spring and fall -- will virtually ensure George Bush''s re-election in November.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>