Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, secure his country's nuclear weapons, according to current and former senior administration officials.
Pakistan has begun building what independent analysts say is a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion of the country's nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region's arms race.
While the United States struggles to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, a more frightening nightmare is simmering right now in Pakistan, where a weak but nuclear-armed government is being buffeted by radical Islamic influences, terrorism and several bloody insurgencies.
Official Iranian sources are claiming that they have information about Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signing an agreement in 2003 in which Pakistan promised to help Saudi Arabia develop nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.
Pakistan has tested a nuclear-capable missile which could hit targets deep in neighbouring India. It was the first test of the Shaheen II missile, which Pakistan says has a range of 2,000km and can carry nuclear and conventional warheads.
Pakistan might have offered to share military assistance, including "nuclear power" with Nigeria, in defiance of counter-proliferation agreement with the U.S.
Pakistan's alleged assistance to the nuclear weapons programs of North Korea, Iran and Libya represents a shocking break with past nuclear export practices and, if true, an unprecedented threat to international security.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is investigating potential links between the atomic programs of Iran and Pakistan after discovering that the secret Iranian uranium-enrichment program used technology identical to Pakistani plans, diplomats said.
Karen Yourish summarizes recent developments with both India and Pakistan's nuclear programs.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have concluded a secret agreement on "nuclear cooperation" that will provide the Saudis with nuclear-weapons technology in exchange for cheap oil, according to a ranking Pakistani insider.