1990 India-Pakistan Nuclear Showdown Detailed in Magazine

Investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh reported in a magazine article published Monday that the world was on the edge of a nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan in early 1990.

Hersh, writing in the New Yorker, termed the showdown “the most dangerous nuclear confrontation of the postwar era” and said the George Bush Administration kept the conflict secret, even from key members of Congress.

Hersh said the confrontation was defused by the intervention of Robert M. Gates, then President Bush’s national security adviser, who was sent to India and Pakistan to handle negotiations. Gates confirmed Monday that he performed that mission.

That nuclear near-confrontation between the two Asian neighbors over the disputed region of Kashmir was reported by the Los Angeles Times in January, 1992.