In a startling revelation, former CIA officer John Kiriakou has claimed that Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden escaped from Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains disguised as a woman, evading capture by US forces in 2001.
In an exclusive interview with ANI and later reported by several others, Kiriakou — who served 15 years with the CIA and led counterterrorism operations in Pakistan — said the US had bin Laden and his men cornered after the September 11 terror attacks, but a critical intelligence failure allowed him to slip away.
“We believed in October 2001 that we had Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda leadership cornered at Tora Bora,” Kiriakou said.
He revealed that the translator for the US Central Command’s commander at the time was secretly an Al-Qaeda operative. When bin Laden’s surrender was negotiated, the translator convinced US officials to allow a night delay so “women and children” could be evacuated.
“What ended up happening was bin Laden dressed as a woman and he escaped under the cover of darkness in the back of a pickup truck into Pakistan,” Kiriakou said.
By dawn, he said, “there was no one in Tora Bora to give up. They had all escaped, and we had to move the fight to Pakistan proper.”
CIA’s Pakistan Strategy: ‘We Purchased Musharraf’
Kiriakou also spoke about the US relationship with Pakistan following the 9/11 attacks, particularly with then-President Pervez Musharraf.
“Let’s be honest here. The United States loves working with dictators. We essentially just purchased Musharraf. We gave millions and millions in military and economic aid. He would let us do whatever we wanted,” he said.
ALSO READ: ISIS Diwali attack bid foiled in Delhi, 2 held from Bhopal & national capital
However, Kiriakou noted that Musharraf had to “keep his military and extremists happy,” which meant pretending to cooperate with the US while allowing militant groups to operate against India.
“The military didn’t care about Al-Qaeda. They cared about India,” Kiriakou said, adding that this dual policy let Pakistan balance its alliance with the US while sustaining conflict with India.
He also revealed that in March 2002, a Lashkar-e-Taiba safe house in Lahore was raided, where agents recovered an Al-Qaeda training manual, establishing a direct operational link between the two terror organisations for the first time.
“It was the first time analytically that we could connect Lashkar-e-Taiba with Al-Qaeda,” Kiriakou said, recalling a congratulatory message from the CIA’s Deputy Director for Intelligence at the time.
White House Shelved Findings, Says Kiriakou
Kiriakou said the White House decided not to highlight the findings linking Pakistan to Al-Qaeda, prioritising strategic cooperation.
“The decision was that the relationship is bigger than India-Pakistan. We needed the Pakistanis more than they needed us,” he said.
He added that Washington relied on Islamabad for drone bases in Balochistan and intelligence operations in the region.
Kiriakou concluded that Islamabad must rethink its stance on India, noting that continued hostility only weakens Pakistan.
“There’s nothing positive for Pakistan in fighting with India. They will lose any conventional war,” he stated.
His remarks come as renewed discussions around US-Pakistan intelligence cooperation and terror networks in South Asia gain attention amid shifting global security priorities.
