India, Oct. 24 -- Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer John Kiriakou has revealed that the United States decided against eliminating Abdul Qadeer Khan, the major figure behind Pakistan's atomic bomb and a major supplier of nuclear technology, due to "direct intervention" by the Saudi government.

Notably, Khan is considered the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, which made his country the world's first "Islamic nuclear power".

In an interview with news agency ANI, former CIA agent Kiriakou, who worked at the agency for 15 years as an analyst and later as part of its counterterrorism operations, said that the US had complete operational information on Khan, including his location and daily activities, but was instructed to halt...