The United States has sought to play down a former Dutch Prime Minister's revelation that his country did not prosecute Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan for stealing atomic secrets in 1979 at the instance of Central Intelligence Agency.
"It is not something that I feel we really have anything to say about because it deals with events long in the past, deals with intelligence matters and I don't have anything to say about it," State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said on Tuesday.
Also read: New info A Q Khan-Iran Nuclear nexus
Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers had on Tuesday said his country let go Khan, who worked in the country between 1975 and 1986, even after he received information that the scientist was involved in stealing nuclear secrets about the enrichment of uranium.
He was never indicted for his activities because the CIA had asked the Netherlands to let him go, Lubbers, who was minister of economy in 1975, told VPRO radio.
Khan, who is considered father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, worked as an engineer in the Netherlands at Urenco, an uranium enrichment plant.
More from rediff