We Thought India-Pakistan War Was Inevitable in 2002: Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou

India-Pakistan: Former CIA officer John Kiriakou has revealed that in 2002, after the 2001 Parliament attack, the US intelligence community believed that India and Pakistan were on the verge of war. Amidst the tensions during Operation Parakram, America considered the threat so serious that American families were evacuated from Islamabad.

In an interview Kiriaku said, "Families were evacuated from Islamabad. We thought that India and Pakistan would go to war." He said that the US Deputy Secretary of State kept doing shuttle diplomacy between Delhi and Islamabad so that both sides retreated.

Kiriaku admitted that at that time America was so focused on Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan that India's concerns were ignored. “We were so busy with Al-Qaeda that we did not even think twice about India,” he said.

Pakistan was committing terrorism in India: Kiriaku

Speaking on the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Kiriakou said that US intelligence agencies had correctly assessed that Pakistan-backed Kashmiri terrorist groups were responsible. "It was not al-Qaeda. It was Pakistan-backed Kashmiri groups, and that is what was proved," he said.

He raised questions on Pakistan's dual policy. "Pakistan was committing terrorism in India, and no one was doing anything." India's policy in the CIA was called "Strategic Patience." "India showed restraint after the Parliament and Mumbai attacks, but now India is at a point where strategic patience should not be considered a weakness."

Pakistan will lose the war: Former CIA officer

Kiriaku warned that Pakistan would lose in a conventional war. "Pakistan will gain nothing from an India-Pakistan war; it will lose—even if we leave aside the issue of nuclear weapons." He praised India's surgical strikes (2016), the Balakot airstrike (2019), and Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam attack in May 2025. "India has time and again shown that it will not tolerate nuclear blackmail or cross-border terrorism."

Two ISIs in Pakistan: one fights terrorism, one nurtures it

Sharing his experiences in Pakistan, Kiriakou said, "There were really two parallel ISIs—one trained by Sandhurst and the FBI, the other by long-bearded guys who created groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed."

Referring to a raid in Lahore in 2002, he said, "We captured three Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters who had al-Qaeda training manuals. For the first time, the Pakistani government was linked to al-Qaeda." When asked why the US did not act, he said, "It was a White House decision. The relationship was bigger than India-Pakistan. We needed Pakistan more."

Who is John Kiriakou?

John Kiriakou spent 15 years in the CIA. After 9/11, he was the head of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan. Tracked al-Qaeda operatives in Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, and Quetta. Later became executive assistant to the CIA's Deputy Director for Operations. In 2007 he confirmed CIA waterboarding and exposed torture on national TV. For this he was jailed for 23 months, but he has no regrets.