“Two Pakistani nuclear scientists who have been detained and questioned by Pakistan did meet with Taliban and Al Qaeda officials in Afghanistan to discuss nuclear issues. But the scientists, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Chaudry Abdul Majeed, were not weapons experts, and therefore of little value to terrorists, American officials say.” According to one official: ” ‘If they had been handed the plans for a nuclear bomb, the worst they could have done is use them as kindling to start a fire.’ ”
– Douglas Frantz, James Risen, and David E. Sanger, “Nuclear Experts in Pakistan May Have Links to Al Qaeda,” The New York Times, Dec. 9, 2001