'It was a Muslim bomb': Ex-CIA officer says intel community saw nukes being mounted on Pakistan's F-16s

Former CIA officer Richard Barlow, who served in the top US intel agency between 1985 and 1988, has made a series of explosive revelations about Pakistan’s nuclear programme in an interview with news agency ANI.

Speaking in an ANI Broadcast premiering on Friday (7 November 2025), Barlow said the US intelligence community had confirmed that Pakistan was mounting nuclear weapons on its F-16 fighter jets.

“In 1990, the intelligence community saw nuclear weapons being mounted on Pakistan’s F-16s,” Barlow said. “We knew Pakistan’s F-16s could carry nukes, without any doubt.”

EP-11 with Ex-CIA Officer Richard Barlow (1985–1988) on Pakistan’s Nuclear Program premieres today at 5 PM IST | ANI Broadcast

“It’s a shame Indira didn’t approve it. Would have solved a lot of problems,” On reported Israel-India proposal for a preemptive strike on Pakistan’s… pic.twitter.com/IrCnOo9vwX

— ANI (@ANI) November 7, 2025

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He described the project as “the Islamic bomb, the Muslim bomb” from the perspective of AQ Khan and Pakistan’s generals, alleging that “billions of dollars in US military and covert aid were used by Pakistan for its nuclear programme.”

Barlow also referred to a reported Israel-India proposal to carry out a pre-emptive strike on Pakistan’s Kahuta nuclear facility. “It’s a shame Indira didn’t approve it. Would have solved a lot of problems,” he remarked.

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Reflecting on the personal cost of exposing the truth, Barlow said, “My life was destroyed. I lost my job, my marriage, and everything I had.”

While Washington publicly opposed and even sanctioned Islamabad’s nuclear programme, critics have long argued that this stance was largely for show. In reality, US policies during the Cold War often indirectly enabled Pakistan’s nuclear progress.

Throughout the 1980s, despite clear intelligence that Pakistan was secretly developing nuclear weapons, the US chose not to act decisively — largely because Pakistan was a key ally in the fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979–1989).

Reports also suggest that officials in Washington were aware of uranium enrichment activities at Kahuta under AQ Khan but often downplayed intelligence warnings to maintain military cooperation and strategic ties with Islamabad.