“Due to penetration of Pakistan’s nuclear establishment by Britain’s MI6 [foreign intelligence service], the CIA learned astonishing information about contact between Pakistani nuclear scientists and al Qaeda. Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majid, two retired nuclear scientists from the stable run by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, met with Osama bin Laden and [al Qaeda second-in-command] Ayman al-Zawahiri several times–the last time [in August 2001] just a few weeks before 9/11.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Pages 120-121