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Not saying that it comes as a surprise, but another Democrat has tied conditions to military aid going to Pakistan. Jane Harman, California Democrat has placed a new bill before the House of Representatives that requires the Government of Pakistan to give unfettered access to Abdul Qadeer Khan and assurances that he will continue to be monitored in order to get any assistance for our military.

In a prepared statement from Representative Harman’s office, she stated:

In 1974, following India’s first nuclear test, Mr. Khan offered his expertise to Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Later that year, Mr. Khan’s company assigned him to work on Dutch translations of advanced, German-designed centrifuges – data to which he had unsupervised access for 16 days.

By 1975, the damage appears to have been done. Pakistan began to purchase components for its domestic uranium enrichment program from European suppliers, and Mr. Khan was transferred away from enrichment work due to concern about his activities.

Convicted in absentia by the Dutch government for nuclear espionage, beginning in the mid-1980s, Mr. Khan is widely believed to have provided nuclear weapons technology to Iran, North Korea, Libya and possibly Syria and Iraq. His network involved front companies and operatives in Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Though much of the network was taken down following Mr. Khan’s confession, there is no conclusive evidence that it was destroyed.

And Mr. Khan is again a loose nuke scientist with proven ability to sell the worst weapons to the worst people.

What to do?

The Obama administration should promptly seek Pakistani permission to question Mr. Khan, and Pakistan should agree to appeal the Supreme Court decision and perhaps to undo the Musharraf pardon. The U.S. Congress can condition further aid to Pakistan on those events.

But, hopefully, appropriate Pakistani officials worry as we do that their civilians could become nuclear targets – as could NATO soldiers in neighboring Afghanistan or civilians in any number of Western countries. Questioning Mr. Khan and learning all the details of his past and present activities is crucial.

It is imperative that President Obama’s strategy for the region Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke calls “Afpak’” include safeguards for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and finally defusing its “ticking bomb,” A.Q. Khan.

Keeping in mind that the Lugar – Biden bill (S 3263) to provide Pakistan with over US$ 15 billion in foreign aid died in the last Congressional session and is rumored that it will be revived in this session, but looking at this morning’s newspaper, I now have serious doubts. Memories of an amendment known as Pressler haunt Pakistan today.