‘Averted nuclear war’: Former CIA officer applauds India’s ‘strategic patience’ post 2008 Mumbai attacks
But according to him, India’s stance has evolved: “India’s gotten to the point where it can’t risk strategic patience being misunderstood as weakness — and so they had to respond.”
- Oct 24, 2025,
- Updated Oct 24, 2025 10:09 PM IST
Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou, who led counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11, has said that India’s recent military assertiveness marks a shift from its earlier “strategic patience” towards Pakistan — a phrase once used within the CIA to describe New Delhi’s restraint after major terror attacks.
In a recent podcast with ANI, Kiriakou recounted his years in Pakistan and shared startling insights into U.S.-Pakistan relations, including claims that “the U.S. essentially purchased Musharraf, paying tens of millions in cash to Pakistan’s ISI” during the post-9/11 counterterrorism cooperation.
Reflecting on India’s responses to cross-border attacks, Kiriakou said:
“India showed great restraint after the 2001 Parliament attack and again after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. But this time around, during Operation Sindhur in Pulgam — a four-day high-intensity conflict — India chose to respond with force.”
The former CIA operative explained that within American intelligence circles, India’s past restraint was seen as “a very mature foreign policy decision” that likely prevented escalation into a potential nuclear confrontation.
“At the White House, people were saying, ‘Wow, the Indians are really exhibiting a very mature foreign policy here.’ We expected the Indians to strike back — and they didn’t. That restraint probably kept the world from a nuclear exchange,” Kiriakou recalled.
But according to him, India’s stance has evolved: “India’s gotten to the point where it can’t risk strategic patience being misunderstood as weakness — and so they had to respond.”
He added that CIA analysts are now asking whether Pakistan has “learned its lesson not to keep poking the hornet’s nest and expect not to be stung.”
Kiriakou, who famously exposed the CIA’s secret torture program in 2007, has since become an outspoken critic of America’s covert operations. His remarks offer a rare glimpse into how Indian decisions are perceived in Western intelligence circles — and how global power equations in South Asia continue to shift.
Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou, who led counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11, has said that India’s recent military assertiveness marks a shift from its earlier “strategic patience” towards Pakistan — a phrase once used within the CIA to describe New Delhi’s restraint after major terror attacks.
In a recent podcast with ANI, Kiriakou recounted his years in Pakistan and shared startling insights into U.S.-Pakistan relations, including claims that “the U.S. essentially purchased Musharraf, paying tens of millions in cash to Pakistan’s ISI” during the post-9/11 counterterrorism cooperation.
Reflecting on India’s responses to cross-border attacks, Kiriakou said:
“India showed great restraint after the 2001 Parliament attack and again after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. But this time around, during Operation Sindhur in Pulgam — a four-day high-intensity conflict — India chose to respond with force.”
The former CIA operative explained that within American intelligence circles, India’s past restraint was seen as “a very mature foreign policy decision” that likely prevented escalation into a potential nuclear confrontation.
“At the White House, people were saying, ‘Wow, the Indians are really exhibiting a very mature foreign policy here.’ We expected the Indians to strike back — and they didn’t. That restraint probably kept the world from a nuclear exchange,” Kiriakou recalled.
But according to him, India’s stance has evolved: “India’s gotten to the point where it can’t risk strategic patience being misunderstood as weakness — and so they had to respond.”
He added that CIA analysts are now asking whether Pakistan has “learned its lesson not to keep poking the hornet’s nest and expect not to be stung.”
Kiriakou, who famously exposed the CIA’s secret torture program in 2007, has since become an outspoken critic of America’s covert operations. His remarks offer a rare glimpse into how Indian decisions are perceived in Western intelligence circles — and how global power equations in South Asia continue to shift.