Although war was avoided last year, public pronouncements from both sides about the conflict are not encouraging. They consist largely of each side's claims that it got the better of the other because it possessed the nuclear deterrent. Was India bluffing, and did Pakistan get off the hook by making empty promises? Or was India ready to face nuclear damage, and did it extract promises that, even if Pakistan now denies them, were firm commitments made to and confirmed by the United States? No one can be sure which view is true, but misplaced confidence on both sides continues to make the conflict extremely volatile.1