Last Update: January 26, 2023, 12:01 am IST
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a Republican Jewish Coalition annual leadership meeting on November 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AFP)
In his latest book, Mike Pompeo claimed that he was informed that Pakistan was preparing for a nuclear strike in the wake of the Balakot surgical strike in 2019.
The Biden administration downplayed the ante US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims he India And Pakistan came close to nuclear war in 2019 and said Pompeo had made the comment as a “private citizen”.
When asked about former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s book, State Department spokesman Ned Price responded during a routine press briefing on Wednesday by saying, “He views this as his right as a private citizen.” expressing.”
In his latest book, Mike Pompeo claimed that he was informed that Pakistan was preparing a nuclear strike in the wake of the Balakot surgical strike in 2019, with his then Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj telling him that India was preparing its own aggressive response. is considering.
In his book Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, which hit the market on Tuesday, Pompeo said he was in Hanoi for the February 27-28 US-North Korea summit in 2019 when the incident happened. . He claimed that the world was not aware of the situation between India and Pakistan.
“I don’t think the world knows exactly how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear explosion in February 2019. The truth is, I don’t even know the exact answer; I know it was very close,” Pompeo wrote.
“I’ll 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 their northern border. Started threatening Kashmir region,” he further wrote.
“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 later shot down a plane in air combat. shot down and captured the Indian pilot.”
Pompeo also detailed talks he had with the North Korean leader during his first visit to Pyongyang in 2018 ahead of the US-North Korea summit held three months later.
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