Pickaxe Mountain revives the Kahuta question: Could India have hit Pakistan’s nuclear leap?

The West Asia conflict highlights Iran’s nuclear ambitions and US-Israeli efforts to block them.

Pickaxe Mountain, housing hidden nuclear facilities, has become a focal point.

Strikes on Natanz in 2025 echoed earlier pre-emptive attacks on nuclear programmes worldwide, from Allied raids on Germany’s heavy-water plant in WWII to Israel’s operations against Iraq’s Osiraq reactor (1981) and Syria’s al-Kibar site (2007).

India, however, refrained from striking Pakistan’s Kahuta facility in the 1980s, a decision that enabled Pakistan’s nuclearisation.

To avoid escalation, India and Pakistan signed a 1988 accord prohibiting attacks on nuclear sites.

India now prioritises survivability through layered missile defence projects. ...