Father of Pakistan's Bomb Stands Defiant

In May 1998, Pakistan conducted five underground nuclear bomb tests. It was around that time that the outlines of Khan's shadowy dealings with nations such as Libya and North Korea began to emerge. Musharraf, in his 2006 autobiography, said he received information that North Korean nuclear scientists had visited Khan's research lab in 1999. "There could be no doubt that it was he [Khan] who had been peddling our technology," Musharraf wrote of a CIA briefing he later received about Khan's activities in 2003.

Musharraf pardoned Khan days after his confession was broadcast four years ago. The government has since insisted that neither it nor the Pakistani military was aware of Khan's secret network.

Khan, in the interview, said he would not speak in detail about his work or identify his associates, but said others in the military and in Musharraf's government were culpable in the proliferation of nuclear technology. "The truth will come out about how they are treated, who is responsible. Those facts will come out," Khan said.

Early this week, allegations surfaced in a book by Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia that Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister slain in December, secretly carried CDs containing information about uranium enrichment to North Korea in 1993 in exchange for missile technology information. Asked whether the allegations were true, Khan said there was no way of establishing their "authenticity."

But Khan went on to say that he had regularly briefed Bhutto about Pakistan's nuclear program. "She knew the whole thing was going on," he said. "She was the prime minister."

Khan said Pakistani scientists had been hunting for a long-range missile to deliver the bomb and first turned to China for help. But China refused to share information about its longer-range missiles, he said. The goal, Khan said, was to build a nuclear weapon that could reach Pakistan's "only adversary" -- India.

"China had the missiles, but they were very restricted. They were becoming a world power and they wanted to show they could act responsibly," Khan said. "The only option was North Korea."

Khan said he is hopeful that Pakistan's newly elected government will further lift restrictions on his movements. "A lot of people are already pressing very hard for all the restrictions to go," he said. "This new government is busy with other things. They've been left almost with a dying patient. It will take some time to get their house in order, and I don't want to create problems."

Khan, who has been in poor health in recent years, said he decided to speak out now because he was worried that his legacy was in jeopardy. "I didn't want to leave behind the stigma for my family that their father or husband is a traitor or a bad man," he said.