In May 2025, as Indian BrahMos missile strikes hit Pakistani air bases — targeting runways, parked aircraft, and critical infrastructure — Islamabad faced a choice. It had the capability to respond with its own long-range systems, but it chose not to. Pakistan deliberately withheld the Babur cruise missile, not because it lacked options, but because using a dual-capable system risked signaling nuclear escalation.That moment captures the changing logic of conflict in South Asia. The four-day crisis was intense but contained, defined less by what was used than by what was held back. Yet, almost a year later, the sustained air The post Pakistan’s New Logic of Limited War May Not Keep War Limited appeared first on War on the Rocks .