Washington: Former CIA officer John Kiriakou has recalled a tense moment in history when the United States feared that India and Pakistan might go to war following the 2001 Parliament attack.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ANI, Kiriakou said, "Family members had been evacuated from Islamabad. We believed India and Pakistan would go to war."

He explained that during the height of Operation Parakram, "The deputy secretary of state came in and shuttled between Delhi and Islamabad and negotiated a settlement where both sides backed off. But we were so busy and focused on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan, we never gave two thoughts to India."

Kiriakou, who spent 15 years in the CIA, first as an analyst and later leading counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, said India’s measured responses over the years have demonstrated strategic patience. "India showed restraint after the Parliament attacks and the Mumbai attacks. At the CIA, we called the Indian policy strategic patience. But India has gotten to the point where they can't risk strategic patience being misunderstood as weakness," he noted.

Pakistan will lose any conventional war with India

On regional tensions, Kiriakou warned that Pakistan stands little chance in a conventional war with India. "Nothing, literally nothing good will come of an actual war between India and Pakistan because the Pakistanis will lose. It's as simple as that. They'll lose. And I'm not talking about nuclear weapons -- I'm talking just about a conventional war. And so there is no benefit to constantly provoking Indians," he said.

He also reflected on the 2008 Mumbai attacks, saying, "I don't think this is Al-Qaeda. I think this is the Pakistani-supported Kashmiri groups. That turned out to be exactly the case. The bigger story was that Pakistan was committing terrorism in India and nobody did anything about it."

Kiriakou highlighted India’s decisive measures against terror infrastructure, referencing operations in Jammu and Kashmir, surgical strikes across the LoC in 2016, Balakot airstrikes in 2019, and Operation Sindoor in May 2025.