India, Pakistan were on verge of nuclear war in 2019, claims Mike Pompeo in book
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference in Washington on September 21, 2020.
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo stated in a book released on Tuesday (January 24) that India and Pakistan were on the verge of a nuclear war in 2019 but the US intervention stopped the situation from escalating. "I do not think the world properly knows just how close theIndia-Pakistanrivalry came to spilling over into anuclearconflagration in February 2019," the likely future US presidential contender wrote in "Never Give an Inch," the memoir of his time as Donald Trump's top diplomat and earlier CIA chief.
India claimed that the fatal attack on its paramilitary force convoy in February 2019 in Kashmir was carried out by the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e Mohammed, and urged that its neighbour take action against militant groups operating on its land.
"The Pakistanis had begun to prepare theirnuclearweapons for a strike.Indiawas contemplating its own escalation,"Pompeowrote.
In a reference to the vulnerability of civilian regimes, Pompeo, who said that Pakistan "probably enabled" the Kashmir attack, claimed to have spoken to "the actual leader of Pakistan," the country's then-army head General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
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At the time, Pompeo openly backed India's ability to take action. Pompeo praised India in his book and, in contrast to New Delhi officials, made no secret of his intention to form an alliance with the South Asian democracy "to counteract Chinese aggression."
In 1998, bothIndia and Pakistan conducted nuclear bomb tests, making it a crucial year for both the South Asian counties.Kashmir was referred to as "the most dangerous placein the world" by then-US President Bill Clinton.
(With inputs from agencies)
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