Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf cited a book deal during an appearance with US President George W Bush today to avoid repeating a purported US threat to bomb his country 'back to the Stone Age'.
With his memoirs due for release on Monday, Musharraf used the unusual ploy to smooth diplomatic waters after talks on the US-Pakistan partnership in the war on terrorism and efforts to prevent a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan.
Mr Musharraf, in an interview with CBS News' magazine show '60 Minutes', to air on Sunday, charged that after the 11 September attacks, the US threatened to strike Pakistan if it did not cooperate in America's campaign against the Taliban.
Mr Musharraf said Richard Armitage, then US Deputy Secretary of State, told Pakistan's intelligence director: 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age'.
Mr Bush told a White House news conference, in which he hailed Mr Musharraf as an important ally, that he knew of no such US threat, and Mr Armitage said today that he had never issued such a warning.
Mr Musharraf spoke just days ahead of the worldwide publication of his memoir 'In the Line of Fire'.
The White House said earlier it was not US policy to threaten Pakistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, as it sought Islamabad's cooperation against Afghanistan's Taliban, who were sheltering al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
