The posturing and muscle-flexing continues in South Asia. The governments in India and Pakistan appear committed to matching each other's every military move and utterance, no matter how inflammatory. This behavior is immature at the best of times, but missile tests and reckless talk of nuclear war are especially inflammatory now, as the rest of the world tries to dampen a nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula and stop Iraqi efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Last week, India tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile. The surface-to-surface Agni-1 missile, which can carry a nuclear warhead, has a 1-ton payload capacity and can be fired from rail- and road-launchers, making it highly mobile. The Agni, which means fire in Sanskrit, has a range of 592 to 800 km, which puts most of Pakistan within its reach. India will also test a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed with Russia, which has a range of 280 km, and is set to enter production by year end. New Delhi reportedly is going to test a 240-km range variant of the Prithvi, another surface-to-surface missile that is nuclear capable.
India said the test was routine, but the timing is curious. Only the day before, Pakistan's army took formal possession of a new medium-range ballistic missile, the Ghauri, which is also capable of carrying a nuclear payload up to 1,500 km. The handing-over ceremony marked the first time that Pakistan's armed forces took over a nuclear-capable ballistic missile. Of course, preparing for a test takes more than 24 hours; the more likely prod for India's test was Pakistan's test-firing of two nuclear-capable Shaheen missiles in October. Those tests were thought to be a response to India's earlier test of a short-range surface-to-air missile.