US Intelligence report flags risk of nuclear conflict in India, Pakistan ties

STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
WASHINGTON, MARCH 19 (STC): The US Intelligence Community‘s Annual Threat Assessment presented to the US Senate on Wednesday has pointed out that India and Pakistan relations remain at risk for nuclear conflict, said a Press Trust of India (PTI) report.
Quoting the 34-page assessment report, the news agency says, “India-Pakistan relations remain a risk for nuclear conflict given past conflicts where these two nuclear states squared off, creating the danger of escalation. The terrorist attack last year near Pahalgam, in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, demonstrated the dangers of terrorist attacks sparking conflict.”
The document further states that President Trump’s intervention de-escalated the most recent nuclear tensions. “We assess that neither country seeks to return to open conflict, but that conditions exist for terrorist actors to continue to create catalysts for crises,” it said.
According to the document, ISIS-K (Islamic State – Khorasan Province) in South Asia maintains a foothold in the region and aspires to conduct external attacks, but the Taliban is improving its security services and has taken aggressive action against it.
“The Taliban has conducted extensive raids against ISIS-K targets, probably thwarted some attacks, and driven some ISIS-K leaders to relocate to neighbouring countries,” it said.
Pakistan continues to develop increasingly sophisticated missile technology that provides its military the means to develop missile systems with the capability to strike targets beyond South Asia, and if these trends continue, ICBMs that would threaten the US.
“Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban have been tense, with intermittent cross-border clashes, as Islamabad has become increasingly frustrated with anti-Pakistan terrorist groups’ presence in Afghanistan while Islamabad faces growing terrorist violence,” it said.
The document said on February 26, the Afghan Taliban launched strikes against Pakistani military positions along their shared border, claiming retaliation for prior Pakistani airstrikes. Pakistan responded within hours by bombing Afghan border provinces and the capital Kabul- the first time Pakistan has struck Afghanistan’s urban centres, it said.

(Straight Talk Communications I Source: PTI)