India and Pakistan engaged in nearly three years of secret, high-level talks that narrowly missed achieving a historic breakthrough in the countries’ decades-old conflict over Kashmir, according to an account set for publication Sunday. The negotiations which began in 2004, was stalled in 2007, and further undermined by the Mumbai terror attacks.

The peace initiative is described in an article by investigative journalist Steve Coll of The New Yorker magazine.

The attempt ultimately failed, Coll writes, because of declining political fortunes that left Pakistan’s then-president, Pervez Musharraf, without the clout he needed to sell the agreement at home. He became so weakened politically that he “couldn’t sell himself”, let alone a surprise peace deal, Coll says, quoting senior Pakistani and Indian officials.