Statement from Ernest J. Moniz on India-Pakistan Conflict

There can be no justification for terrorist attacks on civilians. We express our deepest sympathy to the families of those who have been killed or injured in the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir.

India’s decision to retaliate with military strikes on Pakistan yesterday was expected and raises the dangerous prospect of a rapid and unpredictable escalation of conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries. The risks of dangerous escalation and miscalculation are real, with a conventional war increasing the potential for nuclear threats, or even nuclear use, where millions could be killed in short order and serious effects felt for years well beyond the borders of the warring states. The focus now must be on preventing any such escalation.

To that end, it is imperative that leaders in New Delhi and Islamabad take steps to lower tensions in the region. In addition, the United Nations and other world leaders, in particular President Trump and President Xi, should take an active role in encouraging and facilitating those efforts. Even in this period of bilateral tensions, the United States and China have a shared interest in working with India and Pakistan to prevent war and nuclear use in South Asia. The relationships between the U.S. and India and between China and Pakistan can be employed constructively by advancing coordinated diplomacy that lowers tensions in the short term and rebuilds trust between India and Pakistan in the longer term.  Washington and Beijing have found ways to work together on hard problems in the past (climate change and the Iran nuclear negotiations of a decade ago come to mind), and the risk of nuclear conflict in the Asian subcontinent should also be addressed in coordination.