US threatened to bomb Pakistan after 9/11 - Musharraf
UNITED STATES: President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said
that after the Sept. 11 attacks the United States threatened to bomb his
country if it did not cooperate with America's campaign against the
Taliban in Afghanistan.
Musharraf, in an interview with CBS news magazine show "60 Minutes"
that will air on Sunday, said the threat came from Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage and was given to Musharraf's intelligence
director.
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared
to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,'" Musharraf said.
"I think it was a very rude remark."
Armitage was not immediately available to comment. A Bush
administration official said there would be no comment on a "reported
conversation between Mr. Armitage and a Pakistani official."
But the official said: "After 9/11, Pakistan made a strategic
decision to join the war on terror and has since been a steadfast
partner in that effort. Pakistan's commitment to this important endeavor
has not wavered and our partnership has widened as a result."
Musharraf is now in Washington and is due to meet President George W.
Bush in the White House on Friday.
The Pakistani leader, whose remarks were distributed to the media by
CBS, said he reacted to the threat in a responsible way. "One has to
think and take actions in the interest of the nation, and that's what I
did," Musharraf said.
Before the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, Pakistan was one of the only
countries in the world to maintain relations with the Taliban, which was
harbouring al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and many Pakistanis were
sympathetic with the neighboring Islamic state.
But within days of the attacks Musharraf cut his government's ties to
the Taliban regime and cooperated with U.S. efforts to track and capture
Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces that sought refuge in Pakistan.
The official 9/11 Commission report on the attacks and their
aftermath, based largely on government documents, said U.S. national
security officials focused immediately on securing Pakistani cooperation
as they planned a response.
Documents showed Armitage met the Pakistani ambassador and the
visiting head of Pakistan's military intelligence service in Washington
on Sept. 13 and asked Pakistan to take seven steps.
They included ending logistical support for bin Laden and giving the
United States blanket overflight and landing rights for military and
intelligence flights.
The report did not discuss any threat the United States may have
made, but it said Musharraf agreed to all seven U.S. requests the same
day.
Lisa Curtis, a South Asia specialist with the Heritage Foundation
think tank in Washington, said she did not know exactly what was said by
Armitage but was skeptical he would have threatened to bomb Pakistan.
"The question of any bombing taking place, that question revolves
around Afghanistan," said Curtis, who has previously worked on the staff
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the State Department and the
Central Intelligence Agency.
"I would find it difficult to believe he talked about bombing
Pakistan specifically because, while I don't know the exact contents of
the conversation, I do know it was a pretty firm ultimatum in terms of
... choosing between the Taliban or the U.S.," she added.
Musharraf reacted with displeasure to comments by Bush on Wednesday
that if he had firm intelligence bin Laden was in Pakistan, he would
issue the order to go into that country.
"We wouldn't like to allow that. We'd like to do that ourselves,"
Musharraf told a news conference.
Washington, Friday, AFP |