Assassinated Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October, the Washington Post said in a report on Friday.
The call from Rice culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy -- and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism, the report said.
It was a stunning turnaround for Bhutto, who was forced from power in 1996 amid corruption charges, the report said, adding that she was suddenly visiting with top State Department officials, dining with U.N. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and conferring with members of the U.S. National Security Council.
"The U.S. came to understand that Bhutto was not a threat to stability, but was instead the only possible way that we could guarantee stability and keep the presidency of Musharraf intact," said Mark Siegel, who lobbied for Bhutto in Washington and witnessed much of the behind-the-scene diplomacy.
However, the diplomacy ended abruptly with Bhutto's assassination on Thursday.
Bhutto was killed Thursday evening in a suicide attack during her election rally at the Liaquat Bagh park in Rawalpindi, some 30km south of Islamabad.
Pakistan, under the leadership of President Pervez Musharraf, has been a close ally of the United States on the war against terrorism.
Source: Xinhua
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