White House says not US policy to threaten Pakistan

Washington, Sept 22: The White House todasy said it was not US policy to threaten Pakistan after the September 11 attacks despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's complaint that Washington warned it would bomb his country.

The statement came as Bush and Musharraf met at the White House to discuss cooperation in the war on terrorism and efforts to prevent a resurgence of the Taliban.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of state at the time, had denied warning Musharraf that the United States would bomb his country if it did not cooperate with the US campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Musharraf, in an interview with CBS News' magazine show ''60 Minutes,'' to air on Sunday, said that after the September 11 attacks, Armitage had told Pakistan's intelligence director, ''Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age.'' Snow said he did not know what Musharraf had been told but that US policy was to seek Musharraf's cooperation.

''US policy was not to issue bombing threats. US policy was to say to President Musharraf: 'We need you to make a choice,''' Snow said.

As for what Armitage said to the Pakistanis: ''I don't know,'' Snow said. ''This could have been a classic failure to communicate. I just don't know.''

Reuters

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