How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with United States-brokered cease-fire

At 2:09 a.m. on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house — and took South Asia to the brink of war.

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As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions.

Fighter jets and missiles criss-crossed the skies of one of the world’s most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body.

The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistani air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Mr. Subhan’s, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad.

After the initial blast, Mr. Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. “We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion,” said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call.

This account of Saturday’s events, which began with the looming specter of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by US President Donald Trump, is based on interviews with more than a dozen people, including US, Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters’ review of public statements from the three capitals.

They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the US, India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace.

The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Mr. Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity.

The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refueling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day.