...Clinton told Branch that
he had not invited Sharif to Washington. 'Sharif had invited himself to Washington and Clinton had explicitly told him not to come,' Branch writes.
'"
Your army is in the wrong here," he told Sharif. Clinton could not mediate the Kashmir crisis without the consent of both warring nations and India adamantly refused,' Branch continues....
'The Indians saw nothing to mediate.
They were winning militarily, and Kashmir belonged to India, period.'
...He refused to receive Sharif at the White House, and met the Pakistani prime minister in the library at Blair House, across the street from his home.
...Bandar called and told me the results of his discussion with Sharif. The PM was
distraught, deeply worried about the direction the crisis was going toward disaster,
but equally worried about his own hold on power and the threat from his military
chiefs who were pressing for a tough stand...
...Sharif then went into a long and predictable defense of the Kashmiri cause. He
appealed to the President to intervene directly to settle the dispute by pressing India.
Much of his argumentation we had heard before — only the U.S. could save a
billion and a half South Asians from war, if only the President would devote 1% of
the effort he gave to the Arab-Israeli dispute to Kashmir it would be resolved, etc.
The President pushed back by reminding Sharif that the U.S. played a role in the
Arab-Israeli conflict because both sides invited it to mediate, that is not the case
with Kashmir. The best approach was the road begun at Lahore, that is direct
contact with India. Pakistan had completely undermined that opening by attacking
at Kargil, it must now retreat before disaster set in.
....
Again the President said that was
all true but the
fundamental reality of the day was the Pakistani army and its militant
allies were on the wrong side of the LOC and must withdraw...
Everyone left the room except Sharif, Clinton and myself. The President insisted he
wanted a record of the event. Sharif asked again to be left alone, the President
refused.
The Prime Minister then briefed the President on his frantic efforts in the
last month to engage Vajpayee and get a deal that would allow Pakistan to withdraw
with some saving of face. He had flown to China to try to get their help to press
India to agree to a fixed timetable for talks to resolve Kashmir. Sharif’s brief was
confused and vague on many details but he seemed a man possessed with fear of
war.
The Prime Minister told Clinton that he wanted desperately to find a solution that
would allow Pakistan to withdraw with some cover. Without something to point to,
Sharif warned ominously, the fundamentalists in Pakistan would move against him
and this meeting would be his last with Clinton..
...
The President was getting angry. H
e told Sharif that he had asked repeatedly for
Pakistani help to bring Usama bin Ladin to justice from Afghanistan. Sharif had
promised often to do so but had done nothing. Instead the ISI worked with bin Ladin
and the Taliban to foment terrorism. His draft statement would also mention
Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorists in Afghanistan and India. Was that what
Sharif wanted, Clinton asked? Did Sharif order the Pakistani nuclear missile force
to prepare for action? Did he realize how crazy that was? You’ve put me in the
middle today, set the U.S. up to fail and I won’t let it happen. Pakistan is messing
with nuclear war.
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CE0QFjAJ&url=http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/attachments/naval-warfare/12242d1224707187-somali-piracy-thread-reidel-1-.pdf&ei=kDC8U-X5H5K8ugS21YLAAw&usg=AFQjCNGHD08TiLMOHO8ToiyPDg0FMmKYVw&sig2=LKNO4f8ITs31aNX-HE-HZw&bvm=bv.70138588,d.c2E
Bruce Riedel on Kargil
When Nawaz Sharif gave Bill Clinton a hard time over Kargil - Rediff.com India News
He is your supreme commander.
Surprise surprise.....
