Former CIA officer John Kiriakou has said that Pakistan would lose any conventional war with India, stressing that Islamabad must realise it has nothing to gain from provoking New Delhi. Speaking to news agency ANI, Kiriakou, who worked with the CIA for 15 years, recalled how the agency once feared a full-scale war between the two countries after the 2001 Parliament attack.
He explained that during his time in Pakistan, the US believed tensions could explode into war under Operation Parakram, and even began evacuating its citizens from Islamabad. Kiriakou also claimed that former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf handed control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to the US, allowing the Pentagon to oversee it.
Kiriakou noted that India has consistently responded firmly to cross-border terrorism, citing the surgical strikes of 2016, Balakot airstrikes in 2019, and Operation Sindoor in 2025 after the Pahalgam terror attack.
He further revealed that the US could have killed Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, but refrained at Saudi Arabia’s request, as Riyadh maintained close ties with him.
Kiriakou, who later became a whistleblower exposing the CIA’s torture program, said he has “no regrets” about his actions.
