Pakistan Handed Over Control Of Its Nukes To Pentagon During Musharraf’s Reign: Ex-CIA Officer

Last Updated:October 25, 2025, 09:18 IST

John Kiriakou, former CIA Officer, says US in a way 'purchased' Pervez Musharraf and that Pakistani leaders were mired in corruption.

Pakistan's (now former) President Pervez Musharraf (L) salutes the audience as he leaves a news conference with (now former) US President George W. Bush in the East Room at the White House in Washington in 2006. (IMAGE: REUTERS FILE)

John Kiriakou, former CIA Officer, said Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf handed over control of its nuclear weapons to US’ Pentagon and that Washington in a way ‘purchased’ him.

“When I was stationed in Pakistan in 2002, I was told unofficially that the Pentagon controlled the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, that Musharraf had turned control over to the United States," Kiriakou said.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Pakistan under Musharraf became a frontline ally in the US-led “War on Terror."

“Our relations with the Pakistani government were very, very good. It was General Pervez Musharraf at the time. And look, let’s be honest here. 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. And so we essentially just purchased Musharraf," he said, in a conversation with news agency ANI.

After 9/11. the United States sharply increased assistance to Pakistan as part of its Afghanistan strategy. According to a Congressional Research Service summary, Washington obligated large packages of military reimbursements, coalition support funds and development aid to Islamabad in the post-9/11 years to secure Pakistani cooperation on counterterrorism and border control.

According to an overview of US foreign assistance, released by website Every CRS Report, between 2002 and 2011 the US Congress approved roughly $18 billion in military and economic aid earmarked for Pakistan, though only about $8.65 billion was actually disbursed into Pakistan’s treasury.

“We gave millions and millions and millions of dollars in aid, whether it was military aid or economic development aid. And we would meet with Musharraf regularly, several times a week. And essentially he would let us do whatever we wanted to do. Yes. But Musharraf also had his own people that he needed to deal with," he further added.

Kiriakou said that Musharraf just kept the military ‘happy,’ and pretended to side with the US on counterterrorism while carrying out terrorist activities against India.

“He had to keep the military happy. And the military didn’t care about Al-Qaeda. They cared about India. And so in order to keep the military happy and keep some of the extremists happy, he had to allow them to continue this dual life of pretending to cooperate with the Americans on counterterrorism while committing terror against India," he said.

Regarding India, US officials were aware of Pakistan’s continued support for anti-India militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. According to a 2008 Council on Foreign Relations analysis, Washington privately acknowledged this contradiction but chose not to confront Musharraf too harshly for fear of losing cooperation on Afghanistan.

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