In response to the surgical strike on Balakot in February 2019, the former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims he was awakened to speak to his then Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, who informed him that Pakistan was preparing a nuclear attack and that India was preparing its own escalatory response. In his latest book 'Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love' that hit the stores on Tuesday, Pompeo says that the incident took place when he was in Hanoi for the US-North Korea Summit on February 27-28 and his team worked overnight with both New Delhi and Islamabad to avert this crisis.
"In February 2019, the India-Pakistan rivalry came dangerously near to escalating into a nuclear war. I don't think the world is fully aware of this. In really, I don't know the precise response either; I simply know that it was too near "Writes: Pompeo In retaliation for the terror assault in Pulwama that left 40 members of the CRPF dead, Indian airplanes bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, in February 2019. "I'll never forget the night I was in Hanoi, Vietnam when - as if negotiating with the North Koreans on nuclear weapons wasn't enough - India and Pakistan started threatening each other in connection with a decades-long dispute over the northern border region of Kashmir," Pompeo says. "After an Islamist terrorist attack in Kashmir- probably enabled in part by Pakistan's lax counterterror policies - killed forty Indians, India responded with an air strike against terrorists inside Pakistan.
The Pakistanis shot down a plane in a subsequent dogfight and kept the Indian pilot prisoner," he said. "I had to get up in Hanoi so I could talk to my Indian counterpart. He thought Pakistan had started assembling its nuclear arsenal in anticipation of an attack. He told me that India was thinking about increasing tensions on its own. In his book, which incorrectly refers to Swaraj as "he," Pompeo says, "I begged him to do nothing and let us a minute to settle things out (sic)" .
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"At the little secure communications room in our hotel, I started working with Ambassador (then National Security Advisor John) Bolton. I spoke with General (Qamar Javed) Bajwa, the true head of Pakistan's military, who I had spoken with numerous times. I informed him what the Native Americans had said. It wasn't true, he claimed, "Pompeo declares.
"He assumed that the Indians were getting ready to use their nuclear weapons, as one might anticipate. It took us a few hours to persuade each side that the other was not planning for nuclear war, thanks to the incredibly effective work of our teams in New Delhi and Islamabad "the senior former American diplomat, 59, penned in his book. The Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to Pompeo's assertions right away. "We prevented a terrible catastrophe that night in a way that no other country could have. The persons working the issue set matter a lot, at least in the short term, as it does in any diplomacy. Ken Juster, an extraordinarily skilled ambassador, was one of many excellent team members I was lucky to have in India. Ken admires the people of India, "he stated.
"Most importantly, he cares deeply about and gives his all each day for the people of the United States. David Hale, my top diplomat, had previously served as the US ambassador to Pakistan and was aware that maintaining good relations with India was crucial "Added Pompeo. He added that General McMaster and Admiral Philip Davidson, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, were aware of India's significance. "Despite being frequently irritated by the Indians, US trade envoy Robert Lighthizer—a superb trade negotiator and a former member of the Bob Dole staff, making him a close relative of a Kansan—was a strong partner in efforts to strengthen commercial ties. We all agreed that America needed to make a daring strategic move to deepen its ties with India and break the mold with fresh thinking "In his book, Pompeo pens writings.