Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who once led counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, has said that Islamabad would gain “nothing” from provoking India, asserting that Pakistan would lose any conventional war between the two neighbours.
In an interview with ANI, Kiriakou, who served with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for over 15 years, recounted tense years in the early 2000s when the US believed India and Pakistan were on the brink of conflict after the 2001 Parliament attack. “Nothing, literally nothing good will come of an actual war between India and Pakistan because the Pakistanis will lose. I’m not talking about nuclear weapons, I’m talking just about a conventional war,” Kiriakou said. “There is no benefit to constantly provoking Indians.”
CIA expected India-Pakistan war after 2001 Parliament attack
The former CIA officer said that Washington had started evacuating its personnel from Islamabad in 2002 fearing escalation under Operation Parakram, when India mobilised its forces after the Parliament attack. He claimed that the Pentagon had indirect control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal during that period, with then-military ruler Pervez Musharraf “turning over control” to the US informally.
Kiriakou also admitted that the CIA at the time was “too focused on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan” to fully grasp India’s security concerns. “We didn’t give India’s situation the attention it deserved,” he told ANI.
Citing India’s past military responses, including the 2016 surgical strikes, 2019 Balakot airstrikes, and Operation Sindoor earlier this year after the Pahalgam terror attack, Kiriakou said India had made clear it would not tolerate cross-border terrorism or “nuclear blackmail.”
“US could have eliminated AQ Khan”
Kiriakou also claimed that the US had the option to eliminate Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who designed Pakistan’s atomic bomb, but refrained at Saudi Arabia’s request. “The Saudis came to us and said, ‘Please leave him alone. We like AQ Khan. We’re working with him.’ So, we did,” he said.
Now 60, Kiriakou became a whistleblower in 2007, revealing details of the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation programme. He later served 23 months in prison but has since maintained that he has “no regrets and no remorse.”
