United States ambassador to Malaysia Christopher J LaFleur has declined to confirm whether his country is having difficulties in getting access to interview a blackmarket nuclear agent who is being held in Malaysia.

LaFleur hailed the arrest of BSA Tahir - allegedly a key operator in Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's illicit nuclear network - the US ambassador however said it was difficult for him to comment on issues involving "law enforcement or security affairs".

"We think it's a very good thing that the Malaysian government has apprehended Tahir," he said in an hour-long interview with malaysiakini at the embassy last week.

"He clearly was in cooperation with this network that was providing materials for the production of nuclear weapons to others, so we're appreciative of what the Malaysian government has done. That's all I can say about that."

Khan - a one-time national hero credited with making Pakistan a nuclear power - has admitted selling nuclear secrets to Libya and North Korea. Tahir, 44, has been described as Khan's deputy, having served as chief financial officer in the clandestine network.

Not seen police report

According to an official report handed to the International Atomic Energy Agency in February last year, Tahir admitted to police that he acted as a middleman for Khan and gave details of the proliferation scandal.

However, the police probe cleared Tahir's business partner - Kamaluddin Abdullah - who is Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's only son - from any involvement in the nuclear proliferation scandal.

According to Kamaluddin's oil and gas company, Scomi Precision Engineering (Scope), it had been misled into making key parts destined for Libya's nuclear programme allegedly ordered by Tahir on behalf of Khan.

LaFleur said while he had not seen the police report on the matter, he had "very high respect for the Malaysian law enforcement authorities".

Tahir, a Sri Lankan national who is married to a Malaysian, has been held under the Internal Security Act - which allows detention without trial - since last year.

Meanwhile, LaFleur also refused to comment on the progress the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had made in interviewing alleged Malayian Jemaah Islamiah operative, Yazid Sufaat.

Like Tahir, Yazid - a 38-year-old US-trained biochemist - is also being held under ISA in Taiping's Kamunting Detention Centre.

Washington wanted Yazid to be extradited to the US as he was alleged to have provided help to Moroccan-born Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen charged with conspiring to kill thousands in the Sept 11 terror attacks and faces the death penalty.

Malaysia rejected the request but had instead offered to allow Yazid to be interviewed by the FBI.

Malaysia not snubbed

LaFleur also took the opportunity in the interview to clarify that ex-presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr did not 'snub' Malaysia when they by-passed the country in their visit to tsunami-hit nations.

Last month, the two ex-presidents embarked on a fund-raising tour of tsunami-devastated Asia involving four nations - Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

"Our overall assessment was that Malaysia was capable of dealing with its problems and indeed, more than that, capable of helping others. Both in terms of what we were doing then and in terms of what the two former presidents are doing now, the focus is on trying to help those who are assessed as needing a lot of outside help," he said.

"There's no question, this has nothing to do with snubbing. You're doing well and you're helping others."

The US ambassador also talked about a wide range of topics including Malaysia's possible involvement in the reconstruction of Iraq.

On a lighter note, LaFleur, who has been US ambassador for three months, revealed how he met his wife Keiko - daughter of former Japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa.

"She is a businesswoman ... we just happened to be invited to the same party and we also just happened to be seated right next to each other, and the rest is history, as they say," he said.

Q&A: M'sia not snubbed by Clinton, Bush in tsunami tour, says US envoy