Former CIA officer Richard Barlow has claimed that a proposed joint &ldquo;covert operation&rdquo; by India and Israel to bomb Pakistan&rsquo;s Kahuta nuclear facility in the early 1980s was never approved by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling her decision a &ldquo;shame&rdquo; and asserting that it &ldquo;would have solved a lot of problems.&rdquo;
Barlow, who served as a counterproliferation officer in the CIA during Pakistan&rsquo;s clandestine nuclear development, said he had learned about the plan within intelligence circles but was not directly involved. 
&ldquo;I heard about it at some point. But I didn&rsquo;t get my teeth into it because it never happened,&rdquo; he said.
The proposed strike was reportedly aimed at halting Islamabad&rsquo;s atomic ambitions and preventing Pakistan from developing and proliferating nuclear weapons, particularly to Iran, which Israel regarded as a major adversary. 
Barlow remarked, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a shame that Indira [Gandhi] didn&rsquo;t approve it; it would have solved a lot of problems.&rdquo;
Barlow noted that the United States, under President Ronald Reagan, would likely have opposed any such attack, especially if carried out by Israel, as it could have disrupted Washington&rsquo;s covert operations against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. 
&ldquo;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,&rdquo; he said, referring to the former Israeli Prime Minister.
He further stated that Pakistan used its role in the Afghan conflict to deter U.S. intervention in its nuclear program. 
&ldquo;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&rsquo;s what Munir was saying to [US Congressman Stephen] Solarz, if you pull aid, we&rsquo;re not going to support the Mujahideen anymore,&rdquo; Barlow added.
The Kahuta uranium enrichment facility, led by nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, later became the cornerstone of Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear weapons program, culminating in its first successful atomic tests in 1998.

Ex-CIA officer on India-Israel Kahuta plan

Ex-CIA officer says Indira Gandhi blocked India-Israel strike on Pakistan’s nuke site

Ex-CIA: Indira Blocked Strike On Pak Site

Ex-CIA officer says Indira Gandhi blocked India-Israel strike on Pakistan’s nuke site

November 8, 2025 | 22:24 IST