The India-Pakistan Conflict Is Testing the Threshold for Nuclear War
Pakistan’s veiled nuclear threat probes the limits of a theory that atomic weapons deter all-out war but make smaller conflicts more likely.
Illustration: Matt Williams for Bloomberg
For several hours on Saturday, May 10, it looked like the India-Pakistan conflict risked spiraling into nuclear war.
Pakistani security sources leaked to a range of media organizations that the country’s innocuously named National Command Authority, which is responsible for handling nuclear weapons, would hold an urgent meeting. Although the government denied the reports a few hours later, the implicit threat had its intended effect: The US and other nations raced to calm things down, eventually producing a ceasefire that is still holding roughly two weeks later.