'Pakistan Will Lose Any Conventional War With India...’: Ex-CIA Officer's Advice For Islamabad

Last Updated:October 25, 2025, 11:27 IST

John Kiriakou, who has served in the CIA for 15 years, recounted his years leading counterterrorism operations in Pakistan.

Representative Image (File/Reuters)

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who led counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan, said Pakistan would lose any conventional war with India. He recounted the time after the 2001 Parliament attacks and said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believed the two nuclear-armed nations would go to war after these attacks.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, John Kiriakou, who has served in the CIA for 15 years, advised Pakistan to come to a policy conclusion and also noted that there is nothing positive for Pakistan in fighting with India.

Kiriakou said, “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. There is no benefit to constantly provoking Indians."

‘India Unaware Of Americans Controlling Pakistani Nukes’

In yet another shocking revelation, Kiriakou said when he was stationed in Pakistan in 2002, he was told unofficially that the Pentagon controlled the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.

Responding to the query that if this information was shared with India, Kiriakou said, “I doubt that the Americans ever told India that the control of Pakistani nukes also lies with the US because of the vociferousness with which the Pakistanis have publicly maintained that they control their own nuclear weapons. But I can tell you definitively that the State Department was telling both sides—if you’re gonna fight, fight. Keep it short and keep it non-nuclear. If nuclear weapons are introduced, the whole world is going to change. And so I think there was restraint on both sides," Kiriakou said.

New Delhi also warned Islamabad that it will not tolerate its nuclear blackmail.

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