The nuclear nightmare is back – and just one man gave unstable states across the world access to weapons that could bring down the apocalypse. This is the story of Abdul Qadeer Khan, a gifted scientist who grew to fear India in the chaos and butchery of Partition, then worked to give his new home, Pakistan, the protection of a nuclear arsenal. Disastrously, he would spread this dangerous knowledge.

Thus began the Subcontinent’s own arms race, its spillover to North Korea, Iran and beyond… and AQ Khan’s journey to become another Oppenheimer: the father of nuclear nightmares.

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• “Without this one-man proliferation machine, none of North Korea, Pakistan or Iran’s nuclear programmes would have succeeded.” – Arthur Snell
• “Khan became a zealot. He thought he could save not just Pakistan but the whole Muslim world. And that’s where he went terribly wrong.” – Hassan Abbas
• “Russia’s war in Ukraine may be disastrous – but it’s taught everyone the value of nukes.” – Arthur Snell

Photograph of AQ Khan: Getty Images

Written and presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Assistant producer: Jacob Archbold. Original music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com . Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Doomsday Watch is a Podmasters production.

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