Former CIA officer John Kiriakou has asserted that Pakistan would be on the losing side in any conventional war with India, recalling that even after the 2001 Parliament attack, assessments in Washington anticipated the risk of open conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. In a conversation with ANI, Kiriakou, who served 15 years in the CIA and led counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, urged Islamabad to accept that war offers no gains and only escalates costs. He clarified that his assessment relates strictly to conventional warfare, adding that there is “no benefit” in repeatedly provoking India.
Referencing India’s decisive responses to cross-border terrorism, he noted the 2016 surgical strikes, the 2019 Balakot operation, and Operation Sindoor following the April Pahalgam attack this year, which killed 26 civilians. He added that New Delhi had also pushed back against what he termed Pakistan’s “nuclear blackmail,” with Islamabad eventually seeking de-escalation after failing to strike Indian cities as intended.
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Kiriakou said U.S. agencies in 2002 were concerned enough during Operation Parakram to begin evacuating American civilians from Islamabad, reflecting fears of a slide into war. He also claimed he was unofficially told during his Islamabad posting that the Pentagon had effective control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal at the time, stating that then-President Pervez Musharraf had handed control to the U.S. He acknowledged that, in that period, U.S. intelligence was primarily focused on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan, with India’s concerns not receiving proportional attention.
US Could Have Killed Pak Scientist
Kiriakou further claimed the U.S. could have assassinated A.Q. Khan, architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program, but did not act due to Saudi Arabia’s intervention. He said Washington knew Khan’s routines and could have executed an operation, but Saudi officials asked that he be left alone, citing their cooperation with him.
A noted whistleblower, Kiriakou publicly exposed the CIA’s torture program in 2007, for which he served 23 months in prison before charges were dropped. He has since said he feels “no regrets, no remorse.”
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