Nuclear Chest-Thumpers

The presence of 1 million stalemated troops along the border between India and Pakistan, the nuclear-armed foes who have fought three wars in the last half-century, has set off alarm bells across the world. Aside from a desire to see war averted, Washington has another interest: Pakistan says it will move troops from its west, where they should be hunting for the Al Qaeda forces that fled Afghanistan, to the east, to face Indian soldiers.

The leaders of India and Pakistan should take advantage of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s suggestion that they hold an informal side meeting next week at an Asian regional conference in Kazakhstan.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is happy to see Putin, President Bush and leaders of NATO countries pressuring Pakistan to stop terrorists crossing into Kashmir. But he also should be willing to talk with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf without demanding that Pakistan first stop abetting terrorism.

Musharraf did crack down on Islamic militants in January, after supporters of Kashmir secession from India attacked the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. But he later freed most of those rounded up, and this month separatists attacked an army housing complex in Kashmir, killing more than 30 people.

As with the Palestinian Authority, there is some question of the willingness or ability of Pakistani authorities to stop terrorism. Islamic radicals have killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, 11 French contract defense workers and four worshipers at a Protestant church favored by foreigners. All of these attacks were designed to humiliate Musharraf for helping the United States against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

But Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, does have power over the military. He should have delayed the recent tests of three Pakistani missiles capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

The Pakistani leader should now order his generals to crack down on cross-border terrorism. India might then pull troops back from the border and de- escalate its own nuclear chest-thumping. It is easy to miscalculate in war, to let momentum rather than good sense rule; India sent its soldiers into the high, cold Himalayas 40 years ago wearing shorts and sneakers to battle China. They were badly beaten.

Perhaps it is true, as some analysts contend, that the parity of nuclear arms is keeping India and Pakistan out of war. But it is not a theory that bears testing. Other nations should follow Putin’s lead and apply all the muscle they can to get the two countries to sit down in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and talk.