Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed that he woke up to talk to his then Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj who told him that Pakistan was preparing for a nuclear strike in the wake of the Balakot surgical strike in February. doing. It’s 2019 and India is preparing its own escalatory response.
In his new book ‘Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love’, which hit the market on Tuesday, Pompeo said the incident happened when he was in Hanoi for the US-North Korea summit on February 27-28 and his The team worked through the night with both New Delhi and Islamabad to defuse the crisis.
“I don’t think the world knows exactly how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to a nuclear explosion in February 2019. The truth is, I don’t even know the exact answer; I just know that it was close.” Pompeo writes.
India’s warplanes had destroyed a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
“I will never forget the night I was in Hanoi, Vietnam – as if negotiating with the North Koreans on nuclear weapons wasn’t enough – India and Pakistan opened fire on each other over a decades-long dispute over the northern border. started threatening the region of Kashmir,” says Pompeo.
“After an Islamist terrorist attack in Kashmir – probably due to Pakistan’s lax anti-terrorist policies – killed forty Indians, India responded with airstrikes against terrorists inside Pakistan. The Pakistanis shot down a plane in the subsequent dogfight. shot down and captured the Indian pilot,” he said.
“In Hanoi, I awoke to talk with my Indian counterpart. He believed that the Pakistanis had begun preparing their nuclear weapons for attack. He informed me that India was considering an escalation of its own. is doing. I told him not to do anything and give it to us.” Pompeo writes in his book, which wrongly refers to Swaraj as “she”.
“I began working with Ambassador (then National Security Advisor John) Bolton, who was with me in the secure communications facility at our hotel. I arrived with Pakistan’s de facto leader, (Army Chief) General (Qamar Javed) Bajwa. whom I had engaged with several times. I told them what the Indians had told me. They said it was not true,” says Pompeo.
“As one might expect, they believed that the Indians were preparing their nuclear weapons for deployment. It took us a few hours – and remarkably good work by our teams on the ground in New Delhi and Islamabad – each to convince either side that the second was not a preparation for nuclear war,” the 59-year-old former top US diplomat writes in his book.
There was no immediate comment from the State Department on Pompeo’s claims.
“No other country could have done what we did that night to avoid the dire consequences. As with all diplomacy, it’s the people who solve the problem, at least in the short term, that matter. I was lucky That I had great team members in place in India, none more so than Ken Juster, an incredibly capable ambassador. Ken loves India and its people,” he said.
“And, above all, he loves the American people and works for us every day. My most senior diplomat, David Hale, was also the US ambassador to Pakistan and knew that our relationship with India was a priority. ” Pompeo said.
He asked, “General McMaster and Admiral Philip Davidson, who was named head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, also understood the importance of India?”
“Though often frustrated by the Indians, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer – a brilliant trade negotiator and alumnus of the Bob Dole staff, making him a near-Kanson – was a great partner in working to deepen economic ties. We all Shared the view that the US had to make a bold strategic effort to strengthen its ties with India and break the mold with new ideas, Pompeo wrote in his book.
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