The India-Pakistan Military Standoff Crisis and Escalation in South Asia

by Davis, Zachary S.

• ISBN13: 9780230109384
• ISBN10: 0230109381
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book focuses on the 2001-2002 crisis that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Like the 1999 Kashmir crisis and the 2008 Mumbai crisis, the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament set in motion events that nearly spun out of control. India's military mobilization raised the specter of full-scale war and the possibility that Pakistan, faced with the defeat of its Army, would resort to nuclear weapons. The volume's authors focus on five main areas: the political history that led to the crisis; the conventional military environment during the crisis; the nuclear environment during the crisis; coercive diplomacy and de-escalation during the crisis; and arms control and confidence-building measures that can help South Asia to avoid similar crises in the future.

Author Biography

Zachary S. Davis is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an adjunct professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. He has worked on national security issues in the executive and legislative branches of government and published widely on a variety of topics.

Table of Contents

Part 1: The Historical and Political Background of the Crisis * The Roots of Crisis: Post-Kargil Conflict in Kashmir and the 2001-2002 Near War--Praveen Swami * The Political-Military Background of the 2001-2002 Military Standoff: A Pakistani Perspective--Zafar Jaspal * Part 2: The Conventional Military Environment * The Military Dimension of the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan Standoff: Planning and Preparation for Land Operations--Gurmeet Kanwal * Part 3: Managing the Nuclear Environment * What Was Done to Achieve Strategic Stability During the Cold War? Implications for South Asian Crises--Michael Wheeler * Pakistan’s Nuclear Force Posture and the 2001-2002 Crisis--Feroz Khan * Part 4: Outside Actors and Crisis Resolution:  The United States’ Role * Crisis Management in South Asia’s Twin Peaks Crisis--Polly Nayak and Michael Krepon * The 2002 Crisis: A Real-Time View From Islamabad--David Smith * Part 5: Avoiding Future Crises * Arms Control, Confidence Building and Nuclear Risk Reduction in South Asia: A Pakistani Perspective--Naeem Salik * Conclusion: Lessons Learned and Unlearned