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The unusual decision by Pervez Musharraf to publish his memoirs while still in office provides a candid account of the Pakistani president's conflicts with both allies and rivals alike.
His book, "In the Line of Fire," contains explosive allegations on how far the United States went in persuading Islamabad to join the "war on terror" and a first-hand account of see-sawing relations with arch rival India.
The book chronicles his journey from a middle-class Delhi family through the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan and his ascent through the army's ranks to military chief and the 1999 coup that brought him to power.
And while there are revelations from his stint as army chief, the strongest allegations relate to the period after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when Pakistan found itself at the centre of the unfolding US-led "war on terror."
He recalls watching the aftermath of the attacks on television and soon realising how dramatically things were about to change for Pakistan.
"America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear. If the perpetrator turned out to be Al-Qaeda, then that wounded bear would come charging straight towards us," Musharraf remembers thinking at the time.
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell telephoned Musharraf the next day and told him "you are either with us or against us," the president recalls.
"In what was to be the most undiplomatic statement ever made, deputy secretary of state Richard) Armitage added to what Colin Powell had said to me and told the (Pakistani intelligence) director general... that if we chose the terrorists, then we should be prepared to be bombed back to the Stone Age."
Armitage has denied making such a threat.
"I felt very frustrated by Armitage's remarks. It goes against the grain of a soldier not to be able to tell anyone giving him an ultimatum to go forth and multiply, or words to that effect," Musharraf says.
But the Pakistani leader says it was soon clear he had only one option.
"I war-gamed the United States as an adversary," Musharraf writes. "The question was: if we do not join them, can we confront them and withstand the onslaught? The answer was no... Our military forces would be destroyed."
"We could not endure a military confrontation with the United States from any point of view," he adds.
Pakistan's support for the US-led invasion of Afghanistan proved critical to ousting the hardline Islamic Taliban regime harbouring Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader blamed for the September 11 attacks.
Other revelations in the book likely to ruffle US feathers include allegations that US intelligence paid millions of dollars for Pakistan to hand over Al-Qaeda suspects it had captured.
And touching on what is still a sore topic between Pakistan and India, the general describes the outcome of a 1999 border conflict in Kargil as a victory for Pakistan, accusing India at the time of "creeping forward" across the so-called Line of Control -- the de facto border in disputed Kashmir.
Musharraf's decision to publish such revelations while in office is somewhat unconventional.
Former US president Bill Clinton only released "My Life" in June 2004, three years after he left office and readers had to wait several years after the fall of the Berlin Wall to read Mikhail Gorbachev's account of the goings-on in the Kremlin during his stint as Soviet leader.
The book received an unusual plug last week, when Musharraf declined to answer journalists' questions on Armitage's alleged comments during a press conference with US President George W. Bush, saying he was under obligation by his publisher not to discuss the episode.
"In other words, 'buy the book,' is what he's saying," Bush joked.
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AFP 252201 GMT 09 06
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