New York, September 29: During the Kargil war in 1999, the then US President Bill Clinton was ready to “jump on a plane” to prevent the conflict’s escalation into full fledged nuclear warfare as Pakistan had almost prepared itself to nuke India fearing military defeat, a book which hit the stores today has claimed.
Pulitzer Prize-Winning author and historian Taylor Branch claimed in his book that at the peak of Kargil warfare, Clinton told him that Pakistan sneaked its soldiers across the Line of Control as part of its strategy to escalate tension with India and thus gain international attention.
“Clinton surprised me about Kashmir… He said skirmishes there were much more serious than reported,” Branch writes in his 700-page book titled ‘The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President’.
“If they (India and Pakistan) called tonight, and said I could end this thing by flying over there, I would have no choice but to jump on the plane,” Clinton was quoted as saying in the book, which is based on the secret taped conversations between Clinton and Branch.
—Agencies