Delhi, India: According to the Press Trust of India and AFP, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has revealed that India and Pakistan were close to nuclear war in 2019 following the Balakot airstrike and that US intervention helped prevent an escalation.
In February 2019, India blamed a militant group for a suicide bombing that killed 41 paramilitary soldiers in Indian-held Kashmir and launched airstrikes inside Pakistani territory. After that, Pakistan downed an Indian warplane and captured the pilot.
In his memoir, Never Give an Inch, Mr. Pompeo wrote, “I do not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019.” This was in reference to his time serving as Donald Trump’s top diplomat and the CIA’s previous chief.
The Press Trust of India reports that the former US diplomat stated that he was awakened to speak with his then-Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, who informed him that India was preparing its own escalatory response and that Pakistan was preparing for a nuclear attack following the air strike.
According to Mr. Pompeo’s book, the incident occurred while he was in Hanoi for the US-North Korea Summit on February 27 and 28, and his team collaborated with New Delhi and Islamabad over the course of the night to prevent it.
He continued, “I will never forget the night I was in Hanoi, Vietnam when – as if negotiating with the North Koreans on nuclear weapons was insufficient – India and Pakistan started threatening each other in connection with a dispute that has raged for decades over the northern border region of Kashmir.”
I was woken up in Hanoi to talk to my Indian counterpart. He thought the Pakistanis had started working on getting their nuclear weapons ready for a strike. He informed me that India was considering its own escalation. In his book, which erroneously refers to Ms. Swaraj as “he,” he wrote, “I asked him to do nothing and give us a minute to sort things out (sic).”
He stated, “I began to work with Ambassador (then National Security Advisor John) Bolton, who was with me in the tiny secure communications facility in our hotel,” and he also stated that he spoke with “the actual leader of Pakistan,” the then-army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, at the time.
He thought the Indians were getting ready to use their nuclear weapons, as one might expect. The 59-year-old former top American diplomat wrote, “It took us a few hours and remarkably good work by our teams on the ground in New Delhi and Islamabad to convince each side that the other was not preparing for nuclear war.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs and Pakistan’s Foreign Office did not immediately respond to Mr. Pompeo’s claims.
No other nation could have prevented such a terrible outcome that night. He stated, “At least in the short term, as with all diplomacy, the people working the problem set matter a great deal.” David Hale, my most senior diplomat, had previously served as the US ambassador to Pakistan and was aware of the importance of our relationship with India, Mr. Pompeo stated.
He added, “General McMaster and Admiral Philip Davidson, the head of what became the US Indo-Pacific Command, also understood India’s importance.”
“US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, a brilliant trade negotiator and a Bob Dole staff alumnus, was a great partner working to deepen economic ties, despite being frequently frustrated by the Indians. According to PTI, Mr. Pompeo wrote, “We all shared the view that America had to make a bold strategic effort to tighten our ties with India and break the mold with new ideas.”
AFP reports that Mr. Pompeo extensively discusses his diplomacy with Kim Jong Un in the book, including the preparation of three meetings with Donald Trump and the young totalitarian leader. As he flew into Pyongyang in March 2018 on a clandestine trip as CIA director, he recalled a chilling first conversation.
I didn’t anticipate your presence. Pompeo quotes Kim as saying to him, “I know you’ve been trying to kill me.”
“I made the decision to lean in with my own brand of humor: I’m still trying to kill you, Mr. Chairman.'” However, Mr. Pompeo said that the Trump administration offered incentives to reduce tension, which led to a growing understanding with Kim.