New Delhi: The United States intelligence community was certain that India and Pakistan would go to war after the 2001 Parliament attack, former CIA officer John Kiriakou has said, recalling tense days in Islamabad when American diplomats were told to prepare for the worst.
In an interview, Kiriakou, who served as the CIA’s counter-terrorism chief in Pakistan, said that after the December 2001 terror strike in New Delhi, the US “was sure” that a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was imminent. “We had evacuated our families. We were sure that war was coming,” he said.
#WATCH | On the aftermath of 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, ex-CIA Officer, John Kiriakou says, “… We believed India and Pakistan might go to war… Once a junior officer who worked for me and I went to lunch in the embassy cafeteria, a space that normally held… pic.twitter.com/a27UwMKYcM
— ANI (@ANI) October 24, 2025
Kiriakou recounted a moment when a junior CIA officer noticed that the cafeteria inside the US Embassy in Islamabad was empty. “She said, ‘Where is everybody?’ I told her, ‘They’ve been evacuated because India and Pakistan are going to war like any minute now,’” he recalled.
The former CIA officer said that the situation was so grave that the US Deputy Secretary of State was flying between New Delhi and Islamabad to de-escalate tensions, even as Washington’s focus remained on Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
Kiriakou also made striking claims about Pakistan’s then-military ruler Pervez Musharraf, alleging that Washington “essentially purchased” his loyalty during the early years of the War on Terror. “The United States loves working with dictators because then you don’t have to worry about public opinion and you don’t have to worry about the media anymore,” he said.
He further claimed that during his posting in Pakistan in 2002, he was “unofficially told” that the Pentagon had control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal because Musharraf feared the weapons could fall into terrorist hands.
The 2001 Parliament attack had triggered one of the most serious military standoffs between India and Pakistan since 1971, with both nations mobilising troops along the border under Operation Parakram. Though full-scale conflict was avoided, the crisis lasted nearly 10 months.
Kiriakou’s account, while offering a rare insider view of US intelligence perceptions, includes unverified claims that have not been independently confirmed by either the US or Pakistani authorities.
The former CIA officer’s remarks underline how close South Asia came to the brink of war two decades ago — and how the US viewed the subcontinent’s tensions through the prism of its post-9/11 counter-terrorism strategy.
