Earlier this week, India tested a new intermediate-range missile, the Agni II. The missile, capable of carrying either a conventional or nuclear payload a distance of 2,000 km, has most of China and all of Pakistan within its range. The test has been trumpeted as another display of India's technical prowess, but it is, in reality, a serious challenge to political and military stability in South Asia. Regional governments should be redoubling efforts to lower suspicions and build trust among themselves. This week's test is sure to do just the opposite.
Pakistan's response was predictable: Only three days after the Agni flight, it tested a missile of its own in a dreary repetition of last May's tit-for-tat nuclear tests. An opportunity to break this meaningless cycle has been lost. The fact that Pakistan has the capability to match the test -- and there was never any doubt about that -- does not mean that it needed to be demonstrated. Restraint would have done far more to advance Pakistan's security, and that of the entire region, than this knee-jerk display of military weaponry.
There was no military rationale for India's test. In fact, the security situation in South Asia has been improving since the nuclear tests last year. Those blasts, and the resulting international clamor, helped push the governments in New Delhi and Islamabad toward renewed dialogue. Both governments have announced a willingness, if not a readiness, to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The two countries' prime ministers earlier this year held a summit that raised hopes for a real breakthrough in relations. One of the fruits of that meeting was the decision to give advance warning whenever one country planned to test a missile: That channel was used before Sunday's test.