CNN
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The US is increasing pressure on India and Pakistan to avoid conflict in Kashmir after a tourist genocide in India-controlled regions last week.
US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Washington hopes that Pakistan will help drive the militants behind attacks based on Pakistan-based territory.
And Vance urged India, which accused Pakistan of being involved in the attack, to act with restraint, so that tensions would not explode into war between nuclear neighbors.
“Our hope here is for India to respond to this terrorist attack in a way that does not lead to wider regional conflict,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News’ Special Report with Brett Baier.
“And honestly, as long as Pakistan is responsible, I hope to work with India to ensure that terrorists who sometimes operate on the territory are cornered and dealt with.”
Vance’s comments repeated the comments of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio spoke with top Pakistani officials on Wednesday and called on the two rivals to cooperate with each other in “relieving tensions.”
Rubio “expressed his sadness over the lives lost in the horrific terrorist attacks in Pahargam and reaffirmed the US’s commitment to cooperation with India on terrorism in his call with India’s Foreign Minister Subramaniyam Jaishankar.”
In a call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif, Rubio “talked about the need to condemn the terrorist attacks on April 22,” urging Pakistani officials to cooperate in the investigation.
“Both leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to holding terrorists accountable for violent acts of violence,” the reading said.
Fear of wider conflict increased when Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that his country “has a credible intelligence that India intends to carry out military operations against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours.”
That time slot has now been passed.
On April 22, extremists massacred 26 civilians, the majority of tourists in Pahargam in the mountainous region of Kashmir, controlled by India.
India and Pakistan have been engaged in intense hostilities ever since.
India closed airspace to commercial flights from Pakistan on Tuesday, with Islamabad banning flights from India. This was imposed last week in response to the cancellation of a New Delhi visa for Pakistani citizens and the suspension of major water sharing treaties.
This week, New Delhi and Islamabad are both bent their military strength.
Pakistani security sources told CNN that Pakistan fired down an Indian drone used by “spying” in the conflict-Kashmir region on Tuesday.
Two days ago, the Indian Navy said it had carried out a test missile strike to reconsider and demonstrate the preparation of its platforms, systems and crews for long-range precision offensive strikes.
The tension has also been simmering along the de facto boundary of Kashmir, the line of control, with the shooting being swapped along the border where it had won seven consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities continue to believe that India’s attack, which he told CNN on Friday, is very high.
Officials said four Indian fighters flew near Pakistan’s outer space in the direction of Pakistan’s controlled Kashmir about what Pakistani authorities rated as an attack mission early on Wednesday, but detoured across the border to a nearby base. Officials noted that Pakistani jets were also in the area. CNN cannot independently verify claims.
CNN contacted the Indian government, the Army and the Air Force to comment on the authorities’ allegations.
Officials also praised the Trump administration’s efforts to alleviate tensions as equal and beneficial.
One of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints, Kashmir is partly controlled by India and Pakistan, but both countries have fully argued for it.
The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars over mountainous regions that have split since their independence from Britain almost 80 years ago.
India carried out airstrikes within Pakistan in 2019 following the attacks of major rebels on paramilitary personnel in India-controlled Kashmir. It was the first invasion of Pakistan’s territory since the war between two neighbors in 1971.
The latest attacks on Kashmir tourists have sparked fear that India may respond in a similar way.
Steven Honig and Natalie Caloca may now be at a greater maturation of conflict than they were seen in 2019, according to foreign councils (CFR) researchers Steven Honig and Natalie Caloca.
Writing on the CFR website, the two said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has made Kashmir change and stabilization a central pillar of his legacy.”
They said Modi was politically hurt by the 2019 attack within Indian Kashmir and would feel pressured to make more assertive about the New Delhi response this time.
Although both countries are very armed, India has a great advantage in traditional conflicts.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance 2025, India’s defense budget is more than nine times that of Pakistan.
The budget supports active Indian troops from around 1.5 million staff, compared to just 660,000 people in Pakistan.
On the ground, India’s 1.200,000 army has 3,750 main combat tanks and over 10,000 artillery, but Pakistani tank forces are only two-thirds of India’s, and Islamabad is less than half of the Arsenal artillery in New Delhi.
At sea, the advantages of the Indian Navy are overwhelming. There are two aircraft carriers, 12 guided missile destroyers, 11 guided missile frigates and 16 attack submarines.
Pakistan does not have airlines or guided missile destroyers. 11 small guided missile frigates are the backbone of the Naval Fleet. It also only half of the number of Indian submarines.
Both air forces rely heavily on older Soviet-era aircraft, including India’s MIG-21, and older Soviet-era aircraft, including the J-7, which corresponds to Pakistan’s China.
The overall number of air-inter-air fighter and ground-attack aircraft is shaking wildly in the favor of India, but both troops have made recent efforts to renew the air force with the latest fourth-generation aircraft.
According to military balance, India has invested in multi-roll French-made Lafarejets, with 36 people currently working.
Pakistan has added China’s J-10 multi-roll jets, and currently more than 20 people are in the fleet.
Pakistan still has dozens of US F-16 fighters, but the backbone of its fleet became the JF-17, a joint project with China that went online in the early 2000s. Approximately 150 people use it.
Despite the acquisition of Rafares from France, Russian-made aircraft still play a key role in the Indian air fleet. Over 100 MIG-29 fighters serve the Air Force and Navy in combination. Over 260 SU-30 ground attack jets strengthen Indian forces.
When it comes to nuclear forces, the rivals have around five dozen surface-to-face launchers each, but India has a longer range of ballistic missiles than Pakistan.
India also has two nuclear-compatible submarines, but Pakistan has nothing.
CNN’s Nic Robertson, Jennifer Hansler, Rhea Mogul, Sophia Saifi and Aishwarya S Iyer contributed to this report.
