World

US considered nuking Afghanistan after 9/11: report

Aide to former German chancellor says Bush administration had played through all possibilities

Web Desk August 30, 2015

PHOTO: REUTERS

The George W Bush-led US government considered using nuclear weapons against Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, according to a report published by a leading German news magazine.

An aide to former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder told Der Spiegel in an interview that nuclear option was one of the possibilities examined by the US administration of former US president George W Bush and then-vice president Dick Cheney.

"They had really played through all possibilities," Michael Steiner, Schroder's political adviser, was quoted as saying in the report.

Read: Wars in Pakistan, Afghanistan killed 150,000 since 9/11: Study

The German official stated that Schroder had feared that the US would overreact to 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda that killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage.

Steiner is a senior German diplomat who has been serving the German ambassador to India since March 2012.

This article originally appeared on Press TV.

COMMENTS (26)

Disgusting | 9 years ago | Reply "That is why US has Presidential term limit." @Asif but Bush served two terms. That means people are stupid who re elected him.

khan | 9 years ago | Reply @Anjam If taken Bush logic than Pakistan reseve right (more logical) to nuke India isnt it.

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BOL | 9 years ago | Reply Nuke India. Period.

globalobserver | 9 years ago | Reply Lesson to all terror supporters and sponsors : Don't mess with the USA. Pakistan was lucky that the great commando Musharrafe made his famous U-turn after just one call from Richard Armitage who conveyed Bush's message "if you are not with us we will bomb you to stone age".

globalobserver | 9 years ago | Reply Lesson to all terror supporters and sponsors : Don't mess with the US.

schumaila | 9 years ago | Reply @ Sandeep No matter who decides to nuke Pakistan, Pakistan before being hit will make sure it nukes India

Absurd | 9 years ago | Reply Are we sure he meant Afghanistan and not Pakistan? Further are we mad because he wants to nuke a Muslim nation?

vicktor d'souza | 9 years ago | Reply US military planners have a history of toying with nukes. After the nuking of Japan in WW2, General MacArthur even recommended using nukes during the Korean War on 7 cities in North Korea and Communist China. Its seems that both WASPs and Zionists arrogate and justify to themselves the exclusive right to use such weaponry.

bahaha | 9 years ago | Reply I am sure similar raids against american bases in the ME were also considered by the Pak army. Temporary insanity is unfortunately a full-time feature of the republican Party

usman777 | 9 years ago | Reply why don't u try sandip...see what happens to bharat mata.

Ali | 9 years ago | Reply And they want Pakistan to drop nuclear weapons would be suicide, every country should get nuclear weapons to protect against american stupidity and stupendous aggression. BTW Americans did overreacted on 911!

Really | 9 years ago | Reply At Sandup yours This shows your true mentallity as neibours.

cautious | 9 years ago | Reply Rubbish. Shall I remind everyone that initial USA was response was a demand to turn over OBL ... followed by insertion of a hundred special forces troops used to coordinate bombers combined with supporting N Tribes. That was sufficient to remove Taliban from power - also sufficient to get Taliban to surrender (same Taliban that were invited into Pakistan where they were re-supplied, trained and encouraged to go back to Afghanistan and fight).

Sandip | 9 years ago | Reply If true, as usual Bush and company were going after the wrong country. They should have pummeled Pakistan back to the stone age. Had they done so, the world would have become much safer by now.

a_writer | 9 years ago | Reply @shahid: Shame on you for insulting your own country like this !

powvow | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistan exported terror and the plot was hatched in Pakistan and Bush considered nuking Afghanistan - clearly a nutcase.

James Spectre | 9 years ago | Reply Will, i must remind you that US is the same country who's "staunchly" working for nuclear non-proliferation, and also the same country and the ONLY country which has used nukes on civilians before (read Hiroshima, Nagasaki.)

Anjaan | 9 years ago | Reply Nine of the eleven attackers were Saudi nationals living in the US and Europe ... and Bush considered nuking Afghanistan ... ??!! ... that is US State Dept. evil at work ... !!

A-No.1 | 9 years ago | Reply Nothing alarming in considering all options. Mr Steiner needs to relax his imagination.

Alt | 9 years ago | Reply RUBBISH !

shahid | 9 years ago | Reply When a Monkey is given a Shaving Razor Blade, that Monkey does not start Shaving, He Cuts and Bleeds himself and Others to Death; This Monkey also did the same.

Asif | 9 years ago | Reply That is why US has Presidential term limit.

Irfan | 9 years ago | Reply If it was a movie , than USA may have conquered Afghanistan .

Parvez | 9 years ago | Reply With the same logic and hypothetically speaking......shouldn't Vietnam ( and some others as well ) be fully or even more so justified in considering nuking America ........but heaven-for-bid that would be unthinkable , would it not :-)

Mian | 9 years ago | Reply Nothing is beyond nuts George Bush. It is his bankrupt policies in this region that we are paying the price for.

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