As I wrote a “couple of days ago,”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/2123/nsa-911-docs-and-wmd “The National Security Archive posted some declassified documents on Sept 11. Most of them have nothing to do with WMD, but there are a couple of exceptions.”

This one is a “November 2001 memo”:http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/doc21.pdf from then-SecState Powell to President Bush about a forthcoming meeting between Bush and then-Pakistani President Musharraf. None of the issues described in the memo will be new to those who follow Pakistan, but I think the part regarding proliferation is historically interesting.

Recounting an October meeting he had with Musharraf, Powell wrote that he had told the Pakistani president that “lifting the nuclear-related sanctions ” on “9/22/01”:http://usinfo.org/wf-archive/2001/010924/epf103.htm “did not signal a lessening of our concerns or a green light to further nuclear or missile procurements.” Given Pakistan’s advances in its nuclear weapons and missile programs, I’m not sure how much of Powell’s message was heeded.

It appears, however, that the main US concern at that point was proliferation _from_ Pakistan. Powell wrote that “we need to stress the importance of exercising restraint and terminating any onward proliferation.” He also told Bush that

bq. In Islamabad, I raised our proliferation concerns, [redacted] with Musharraf.

It doesn’t take too much imagination to fill in that blank, but I’m still curious.