U.S. intel estimates of Pak nuke programme were 10 yrs behind actual status: AQ Khan

Islamabad, May 29 (ANI): Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has said U.S. intelligence estimates of Pakistan's nuclear programme were 10 years behind the country's actual nuclear status.

"When CIA sent a letter saying we had crossed the five per cent threshold, we had made several bombs by then," The Express Tribune quoted Dr Khan, as saying.

He also claimed that Pakistan completed its nuclear program without the help of any foreign country.

Dr Khan said he had written to then Pakistan president, General Ziaul Haq, in a letter dated December 10, 1984, that his department was ready to conduct a nuclear explosion at a week's notice. However, he pointed out that it was not till Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minsiter that Pakistan started its missile programme.

Dr Khan said they built a successful nuclear warhead by 1984, at a maximum estimated cost of 250 million dollars, funded internally through off-the-book allocations from developmental budgets. (ANI)