US knew of Pak N-plan but did not act: Declassified documents

The US state department knew Pakistan’s uranium enrichment programme using gas centrifuge technology way back in January 1979, along with a nascent enrichment facility in Kahuta, according to newly declassified and available American government documents.

The documents posted on Tuesday by the National Security Archive, a non-government organisation that seeks to challenge government secrecy, published state department telegrams and internal memorandums from the time. Though alarmed by the discovery of Pakistan’s emerging nuclear capabilities, the Jimmy Carter administration refused to confront Islamabad for fear of alienating it at a time of challenging developments in the region – the Iranian revolution and growing Soviet Union influence in Afghanistan.