Indian strike on Rawalpindi's Nur Khan air base alarmed US, stoked fears that Pakistan’s nuclear HQ could be hit too: Report

It was India's strike on Pakistan's Nur Khan airbase, situated at Rawalpindi, that finally pushed the US to ramp up mediation efforts after initially opting to stay out of the conflict, according to a report.  

 

Of the three airbases India struck, the missile and drone attack on Nur Khan air base at Rawalpindi was the one that sent shivers down the Pakistan Army as the base is one of the central transport hubs for Pakistan’s military. The Nur Khan Air Base is situated less than 10 kilometres from Islamabad and adjacent to the country's military headquarters. It is near the Benazir International Airport, which now houses Pakistan's National Aerospace Centre alongside the base.

 

The missile strike caused a huge explosion at Nur Khan, with witnesses stating that "smoke and fire soon after the explosion". "First there was one explosion and then another. After the second explosion, we ran outside, and flames were rising from the airbase in front," a witness told BBC Urdu. The Pakistani troops immediately sealed off the area, stopping both people and media from reaching there. 

 

The strike served as a warning that India could do huge damage as Nur Khan is not only the home to the air refuelling capability that kept Pakistani fighter jets in the air, but it is also near the headquarters of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division, which oversees and protects the country’s nuclear arsenal.

 

A US official familiar with Pakistan’s nuclear programme told The New York Times that Pakistan’s deepest fear was of its nuclear command authority being decapitated. "The missile strike on Nur Khan could have been interpreted as a warning that India could do just that," the unnamed US official added.

 

The report that that it was "unclear whether there was American intelligence pointing to a rapid, and perhaps nuclear, escalation of the conflict". It stressed Pakistani local media reports that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority, which decides how and when to make use of nuclear weapons. Pakistan denies that such a meeting was ever called. 

 

It was then that the US understood that its public statements and calls wouldn't do much good, and there were "serious concerns" in the administration that the conflict could escalate. India's successful targeting of Pakistani military bases also worried the US. 

 

It was then that US Vice President JD Vance called Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly. The report added that though Vance urged Modi to consider alternatives to continued strikes, including a potential off-ramp that US officials, Modi did not commit to any of the ideas. 

 

Rubio also called Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, and S. Jaishankar, but it was not clear how persuasive he was, at least initially, the NYT added. However, the last move came from Trump himself. 

 

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