India and Pakistan engaged in the most intense fighting in decades with four days of escalating conflict that included fighter jets, missiles and drones packed with explosives. It ended almost as abruptly as it began.

India’s missile and bomb strikes on targets in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir have prompted multiple attacks in retaliation between the nuclear-armed neighbors to the point that some are now calling it a de facto war.

The three stories from the Bulletin's archives provide some historical context for a long-simmering conflict that has once again turned hot—and once again poses the possibility of nuclear war that could affect not just South Asia,