Former US intelligence officer exposed Pakistan, what did he say about nuclear weapons?

News Topical, Digital Desk : Richard Barlow, a former CIA officer, has made a significant revelation regarding Pakistan's nuclear weapons. He says that the US President continued to claim until 1989 that Pakistan would not develop nuclear weapons. Furthermore, the US deliberately provided F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, knowing that Pakistan could deploy nuclear weapons on them.

Richard Barlow made several sensational revelations during an interview with the news agency ANI. According to him, the CIA was also unhappy with Pakistan becoming a nuclear-armed country, but they could do nothing about it.

What did the former CIA officer say?

Richard says, “Until 1989, every president said Pakistan would not develop nuclear weapons. The CIA wasn't happy with this, but we couldn't do more than make suggestions. We weren't elected. Our job was to provide intelligence to senior officials, and that's where our work ended. We had no control beyond that; the responsibility for the rest rested with the elected officials of America.”

Brass Tacks Crisis Mention

Referring to Pakistan's nuclear tests, Barlow says that in 1987, an interview was published in The New Yorker, referring to the "Brass Tacks Crisis" (a crisis related to the nuclear war between India and Pakistan), in which Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, considered the father of the Pakistani bomb, admitted that Pakistan had become a nuclear power.

Richard Barley further says-

In 1993, another article appeared in the New Yorker, revealing intelligence about Pakistan's F-16 fighter jets carrying nuclear weapons. According to US intelligence agencies, Pakistan's then-Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, was kept out of the loop. Pakistan Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan oversaw the nuclear tests.

Why did America support Pakistan?

This was the time when the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. Therefore, the US needed Pakistan to gain a foothold in Afghanistan. At that time, Afghanistan was America's top priority, and Pakistan's nuclear tests were also overlooked.

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