The Pakistani prime minister’s charm failed to work its magic on steely United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice according to a new biography of her, the Dawn daily reported on Monday.
The book describes in excruciating detail how Shaukat Aziz allegedly tried to impress Rice when she visited South Asia in March 2005, according to the newspaper.
Aziz “tried this Savile Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: ‘Pakistan is a country of rich traditions,’ staring in [Rice’s] eyes”, the biography’s author, Marcus Mabry, writes, citing participants at the meeting.
“When Rice sat down with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who fancied himself as a ladies’ man, Aziz puffed himself up and held forth in what he obviously thought was his seductive baritone,” the book says.
“He bragged — to Western diplomats, no less — that he could conquer any woman in two minutes,” writes Mabry, according to Dawn.
Aziz, who is married with three children, was out of luck.
“There was this test of wills where he was trying to use all his charms on her as a woman, and she just basically stared him down,” the newspaper quoted Mabry, a senior correspondent with Newsweek magazine, as writing.
“By the end of the meeting, he was babbling. The Pakistanis were shifting uncomfortably. And his voice visibly changed.”
Pakistan’s Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem said that Aziz was only being polite.
“The prime minister wanted to be nice with Dr Rice,” Azeem said.
“Our tradition is that we should talk to women gently and decently and this was what the prime minister did.”
Aziz (58) had a successful career in international banking before moving into Pakistani politics.
He had postings around the world, including in London, Athens and New York, and rose to be vice-president of Citibank in 1992.
He became Pakistan’s prime minister in 2004, serving under military ruler President Pervez Musharraf.
The biography, entitled Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power, is published in the United States by Rodale Books. — AFP