US sought Pak help in 1998 to prevent terror strike: Document
22 Oct 2013 5:08 AM IST
Clinton called up Sharif from his Oval office and asked for his personal help after an intelligence input about an imminent Al Qaeda attack, according to the declassified memorandum of the telephonic conversation made available by the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Sharif told Clinton that the Taliban are ‘very stubborn’ and ‘very uncooperative’, according to the document.
Clinton sought Sharif’s help in prevailing over the Taliban to prevent Osama bin Laden from an imminent Al Qaeda attack against American targets and bring him to justice.
‘I need your personal help,’ Clinton told Sharif on 18 December 1998, after he received intelligence information about the possible al-Qaida attack.
During the telephonic conversation, which lasted for about six minutes, Clinton asked Sharif to use his relationship with the Taliban leaders, who then were the rulers of Afghanistan, to bring bin Laden to justice.
‘I understand your anxiety and your position, Mr President. You know, I told you in Washington that the Taliban are very stubborn and very uncooperative people,’ Sharif told Clinton, according to the document.
Referring to his previous conversation with Clinton and also with the Saudi Prince Turki in this regard about bringing bin Laden to justice, Sharif had said the Taliban are very stubborn on this issue and that they are unlikely to listen to him.
‘I told you what transpired between us and Taliban and so Saudi Prince Turki, who came especially from Saudi Arabia on that particular issue, and they were very stubborn. We will do everything we can, I assure you,’ Sharif had said, according to the declassified document running into three pages. ‘I will send my people tomorrow to Afghanistan and tell them this will invite retaliation. I will do whatever I can,’ Sharif is quoted saying.
Sharif told Clinton that the Taliban are ‘very stubborn’ and ‘very uncooperative’, according to the document.
Clinton sought Sharif’s help in prevailing over the Taliban to prevent Osama bin Laden from an imminent Al Qaeda attack against American targets and bring him to justice.
‘I need your personal help,’ Clinton told Sharif on 18 December 1998, after he received intelligence information about the possible al-Qaida attack.
During the telephonic conversation, which lasted for about six minutes, Clinton asked Sharif to use his relationship with the Taliban leaders, who then were the rulers of Afghanistan, to bring bin Laden to justice.
‘I understand your anxiety and your position, Mr President. You know, I told you in Washington that the Taliban are very stubborn and very uncooperative people,’ Sharif told Clinton, according to the document.
Referring to his previous conversation with Clinton and also with the Saudi Prince Turki in this regard about bringing bin Laden to justice, Sharif had said the Taliban are very stubborn on this issue and that they are unlikely to listen to him.
‘I told you what transpired between us and Taliban and so Saudi Prince Turki, who came especially from Saudi Arabia on that particular issue, and they were very stubborn. We will do everything we can, I assure you,’ Sharif had said, according to the declassified document running into three pages. ‘I will send my people tomorrow to Afghanistan and tell them this will invite retaliation. I will do whatever I can,’ Sharif is quoted saying.
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