The Bush administration has denied giving any instruction to former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to threaten Pakistan of US bombings after the September 11 attacks.
"There was no instruction given to Armitage, and it's never been a matter of US policy to threaten military action or bombing of Pakistan" State Department Acting spokesman Tom Casey said on Friday.
Casey said official records showed "no indication that any kind of comment like that was made." However, the spokesman said diplomatic exchanges will remain private and classified and no public readout is possible.
"I have gone back and looked at the official records we have on those conversations, and there's certainly no indication that any kind of comment like that was made" the Deputy Spokesman said adding "We generally don't make public readouts of diplomatic exchanges.
But, again, I can assure you that there's nothing in there that would indicate any kind of threat".
Meanwhile, Armitage also denied that he had threatened US bombings of Pakistan after the September 11 attacks unless it threatened a US attack on Pakistan unless it stopped supporting the Taliban and helped hunt down Osama bin Laden.
But the former senior administration official acknowledged that a blunt message was delivered to the Pakistanis--that in the subject of terrorism there are no negotiations.
{{/usCountry}}But the former senior administration official acknowledged that a blunt message was delivered to the Pakistanis--that in the subject of terrorism there are no negotiations.
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf told CBS news that Armitage made the threat to Pakistan's intelligence director.