Ex-Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official Richard Barlow has made a startling claim and revealed that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi didn't approve a joint operation by India and Israel to 'bomb' the Kahuta nuclear facility in Pakistan. Calling the move a 'shame', Barlow said destroying the Kahuta nuclear facility could have "solved a lot of problems".
"I was out of government from 1982 until 1985. And I think that may have occurred while I was out of government. I heard about it at some point. But I didn't get my teeth into it because it never happened," Barlow told news agency ANI in an interview. "It's a shame that Indira [Gandhi] didn't approve it; it would have solved a lot of problems."
India, Israel's alleged plan to destroy Kahuta nuclear facility
According to multiple reports and declassified documents, India and Israel had allegedly planned to conduct a strike on uranium enrichment plant in Kahuta to halt Pakistan's nuclear programme. However, Barlow suggested that ex-US President Ronald Reagan was against any such strike, particularly from Israel, because of Washington's war efforts against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in Afghanistan.
"I think Reagan would have cut Menachem Begin's ba**s off if he did anything like that. Because it would have interfered with the Afghan problem," Barlow said. "As you alluded to, what Munir Khan said was that they were basically using the flow of covert aid to the Mujahideen as blackmail. I think that's what Munir was saying to [US Congressman Stephen] Solarz--if you pull aid, we're not going to support the Mujahideen anymore."
'My life was destroyed...'
In his interview with ANI, Barlow claimed his 'life was destroyed' in 'exposing' the nuclear secrets of Pakistan. It must be noted that Barlow was CIA's counterproliferation officer while Pakistan was conducting its nuclear programme in the 1980s.
He said that the US had 'superb' intelligence on Pakistan's nuclear facilities. He revealed that the US Congress was enraged by ex-Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq's deception amid billions in US aid and had invoked the Solarz Amendment, mandating aid cuts for illegal nuclear exports.
"I made it very, very brief, that there was no doubt on that issue that they were agents of the Pakistani government. We had hard evidence of this. We got into all the pounds and pounds of documents and evidence and things that were said in undercover meetings that were taped. We had hard evidence. There was no doubt of it," he said.
