(CBS) Tom Fenton, in his fourth decade with CBS News, has been the networks' Senior European Correspondent since 1979. He comments on international events from his "Listening Post" in London:

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A recent news item out of Africa should have rung alarm bells. It was a brief government statement after a meeting between Nigeria's chief of defense staff and Pakistan's top military official.

The Nigerian general praised Pakistan's nuclear program; and the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff, General Muhammad Aziz Khan, offered "to assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power."

Nuclear power?

That rang an alarm bell somewhere. The Nigerian Defense Ministry retracted the statement within hours and denied that there had been any discussion between the two countries about nuclear cooperation.

There was also a quick denial from Pakistan. A government spokesman called it "a baseless story and a conspiracy to hurt our image." The Pakistani military issued a statement: "Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state. It fully understands its obligation toward non-proliferation."

End of story? Pakistan hoped so

Nigerian officials are blabbermouths. Two months ago, they announced that North Korea had offered to share missile technology with them. North Korea quickly issued a denial.

The clear implication of the latest Nigerian slip of the lip is that Pakistan, a key American ally in the war against terrorism, is not only an admitted nuclear proliferater. It is a serial proliferater that can't stop doing what comes naturally.

Nigeria is a relatively rich, oil-producing country. It also has a growing Muslim population — just the sort of country that Pakistan might be likely to offer nuclear "assistance." The list of countries to which Pakistan has already transferred nuclear technology includes Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea.

Some of this was well known by Western experts. Then, last month, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, publicly confirmed it all in an 11-page statement. Khan is a Pakistani national hero and was immediately pardoned by Pakistan's military ruler, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf said he had just learned that Khan had been selling nuclear weapons technology since the 1980's without the knowledge or approval of the government.

Almost no one believes that Khan could have been running a major nuclear technology transfer business on his own. Gen. Musharraf told me himself in January that Pakistan's nuclear weapons program is so tightly controlled by the military that nothing could go missing without his knowledge.

The Bush Administration has not made an issue of this transparent fig leaf because Gen. Musharraf's position in Pakistan is precarious, to say the least. He has been the target of several recent assassination attempts. A decision by Musharraf to punish Khan would have unleashed a wave of public anger.

Khan is only the tip of the iceberg. An estimated 50,000 scientists and engineers work in Pakistan's civil and military nuclear programs. The speedy pardon of Khan sent the worst possible message to any who might be considering proliferating.

One who clearly was is Dr. Bashiruddin Mahmood, who was associated with Pakistan's nuclear program for more than 30 years. Dr. Mahmood is a Muslim fundamentalist who believed that the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan should serve as a model for Pakistan.

Prior to September 11, 2001, he made visits to Afghanistan and reportedly held "technical" discussions with Osama Bin Laden about the manufacture of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. After an investigation, the Pakistani government decided in January 2002 not to press charges against Mahmoud. He was let off with a minor reprimand.

In the field of nuclear proliferation, Pakistan is the worst problem, but not the only problem.

Late last year, Iran was forced to admit it has a nuclear program, but still insists it is intended only for electricity. We now know that United Nations nuclear inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium in Iran. The samples were found on uranium enrichment equipment that had been imported from middlemen in five different countries.

The recent revelations by Libya, after it decided to abandon its own nuclear weapons program, show how widespread the problem is. There is an international black market in the technology required to manufacture the fissile material for a nuclear weapon. Companies in both Southeast Asia and Western Europe have been caught offering their wares in what amounts to a back alley, nuclear know-how supermarket.

The fact is that any country with the means and the money has the opportunity to build a nuclear weapons program. That should not be forgotten in the current debate on weapons of mass destruction.

By Tom Fenton
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