Bush expresses shock at ‘Stone Age’ threat

US PRESIDENT George W Bush said yesterday he was “taken aback” by a purported US threat to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in the fight against terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

He praised Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf for being one of the first foreign leaders to come out after the attacks to stand with the US to “help root out an enemy”.

At a joint White House news conference, Mr Musharraf said a peace treaty between his government and tribes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is not meant to support the Taliban.

He said news reports had mischaracterised the deals. “The deal is not at all with the Taliban. This deal is against the Taliban. This deal is with the tribal elders,” Mr Musharraf said.

Mr Bush said: “I believe him.”

He said that Mr Musharaf had looked him in the eye and vowed that “the tribal deal is intended to reject the Talibanisation of the people and that there won’t be a Taliban and there won’t be al-Qaida (in Pakistan)”.

In an interview to air in the US on Sunday on CBS television’s 60 Minutes programme, Mr Musharraf said that after the September 11 attacks, Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, told Pakistan’s intelligence director that the US would bomb his country if it didn’t help fight terrorists.

He said Mr Armitage had told him, “be prepared to go back to the Stone Age.”

Armitage disputed the language attributed to him but did not deny the message was a strong one, according to CBS.

Asked about the report, Mr Bush said, “I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words.”