ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Prime Minister's charm failed to work its magic on the steely US Secretary of State, according to a new biography of Condoleezza Rice. The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports that the book describes in excruciating detail how Shaukat Aziz allegedly tried to impress Dr Rice when she visited South Asia in March 2005.Mr Aziz "tried this Savile Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: 'Pakistan is a country of rich traditions,' staring in [Dr Rice's] eyes," the biographer Marcus Mabry writes, according to Dawn. "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. He bragged - to Western diplomats, no less - that he could conquer any woman in two minutes."
Mr 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 quotes Mabry, a senior correspondent with Newsweek, as writing.
"By the end of the meeting he was babbling. The Pakistanis were shifting uncomfortably. And his voice visibly changed."
Government spokesmen were not immediately available for comment on Monday.
Mr Aziz, 58, had a successful career in international banking before moving into 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 the country's military ruler, President Pervez Musharraf.
Mabry's biography of Dr Rice, Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power, was published this month.
