The US intelligence group believed that India and Pakistan have been on the point of warfare in 2002, following the Parliament assault (Dec 2001) and the tense army standoff that adopted beneath Operation Parakram, former CIA officer John Kiriakou mentioned. Such was the menace notion that households have been evacuated from Islamabad, he added. The State Division on the time was urging restraint on each side, primarily advising that if a struggle have been unavoidable it ought to be saved quick and strictly standard, as a result of the introduction of nuclear weapons would rework the state of affairs for everybody.Even because the CIA in 2002 chanced upon proof connecting al-Qaida and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the US determined that its relationship with Pakistan “is larger than India, Pakistan…we wanted the Pakistanis really greater than they wanted us at this level”.LeT-Qaida Hyperlink“…In March of 2002, we raided a Lashkar-e-Taiba protected home in Lahore. And in that home, we captured three Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters who had with them a duplicate of the al-Qaida coaching handbook. And it was the primary time, analytically, that we have been in a position to join Lashkar-e-Taiba with al-Qaida. I keep in mind receiving a cable from the deputy director of the CIA for intelligence congratulating us on discovering this coaching handbook, saying it was the very first time that we might connect the Pakistani authorities to al-Qaida,” he mentioned.Requested in regards to the difficulty not being highlighted, he mentioned the choice was made on the White Home. “And the choice was that that the connection is larger than India, Pakistan. At the least quickly. The connection, we would have liked the Pakistanis really greater than they wanted us at that time. We have been completely satisfied to throw cash at them. That is what they responded to. However we actually wanted them to allow us to base our drones in Balochistan, for instance,” he mentioned.Kiriakou pointed to India’s said posture on nuclear coercion, saying New Delhi has warned it is not going to tolerate nuclear blackmail and can reply decisively to any terror assault. He highlighted a string of Indian responses to terrorism over latest years, together with surgical strikes throughout Line of Management in 2016, Balakot airstrikes in 2019, and Operation Sindoor in Might of this 12 months.‘Hundreds of thousands of {dollars}’ to Pak intelAmerican protection contractor funds and money rewards handed out in Pakistan over many years of counterterrorism cooperation with US enriched some ISI officers, former CIA officer he mentioned. “I really feel that Pakistani teams with a watch in the direction of India benefited due to these American protection contractor monies. Their protection components have been all turned in the direction of India. We paid tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in money as rewards to the Pakistani intelligence service. And God is aware of what they did with that cash,” he mentioned.‘Qaida Plant’ & Osama EscapeThe previous CIA officer additionally referred Osama bin Laden escaping after CIA had tracked him down quickly after 9/11. “We believed in Oct of 2001 that we had Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida management cornered at Tora Bora. We didn’t know that the translator for the commander of Central Command was really an al-Qaida operative who had infiltrated the US army. We instructed him to return down the mountain. And he mentioned by the translator, are you able to simply give us till daybreak? We need to evacuate the ladies and kids after which we’ll hand over...What ended up taking place was bin Laden, dressed as a girl, escaped beneath the quilt of darkness at the back of a pickup truck into Pakistan,” he mentioned.