Nuclear Relations in South Asia 1

The strategic landscape of South Asia, and indeed of Asia at large, changed dramatically in 1998 and 1999. With the reciprocal testing of nuclear weapons in 1998 and medium-range ballistic missiles in 1999, India and Pakistan emerged from the world of threshold nuclear status to an overt posture as nuclear weapon states. Although both states enjoyed near-nuclear status since 1990, the overt posture raised a host of new issues. Furthermore, the Kashmir crisis of mid-1999 made clear that the new status each claimed did not remove the danger of war but certainly increased the stakes if war occurred.