US Threatened to Bomb Pakistan "Back to Stone Age"

"I think it was a very rude remark," Musharraf said. (Reuters)

Musharraf, in an interview with CBS news magazine show "60 Minutes" that will air on Sunday, said the threat came from then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and was given to Musharraf's intelligence director, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age'," Musharraf said in the interview with the "60 Minutes" investigative news program, according to selected excerpts.

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Pakistan abandoned its support for the Taliban, which was sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders, and became a front-line ally in the US-led "war on terror."

Pakistan has since arrested several senior Al-Qaeda members including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 2001 attacks.

The South Asian country has also deployed around 80,000 troops on the rugged border with Afghanistan to hunt pro-Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants who sneaked into the area after fleeing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The official 9/11 Commission report on the attacks and their aftermath, based largely on government documents, said US national security officials focused immediately on securing Pakistani cooperation as they planned a response.

Rude

"I think it was a very rude remark," Musharraf says in the interview.

The Pakistani leader, whose remarks were distributed to the media by CBS, said he reacted to the threat in a responsible way.

"One has to think and take actions in the interest of the nation, and that's what I did," Musharraf said.

Documents showed Armitage met the Pakistani ambassador and the visiting head of Pakistan's military intelligence service in Washington on September 13 and asked Pakistan to take seven steps.

They included ending logistical support for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and giving the United States blanket overflight and landing rights for military and intelligence flights.

The report did not discuss any threat the United States may have made, but it said Musharraf agreed to all seven US requests the same day.

Armitage was not immediately available to comment. A Bush administration official said there would be no comment on a "reported conversation between Mr. Armitage and a Pakistani official."

But the official said: "After 9/11, Pakistan made a strategic decision to join the war on terror and has since been a steadfast partner in that effort. Pakistan's commitment to this important endeavor has not wavered and our partnership has widened as a result."

Musharraf is now in Washington and is due to meet President George W. Bush in the White House on Friday, September 22.

Musharraf survived in 2003 two assassination attempts in less than a fortnight.