All out war could ensue if 'revenge-obsessed' Trump can't 'rise to the occasion': expert

The escalating conflict between India and Pakistan — one that has the real possibility of becoming nuclear — could turn out to be the first true test of the Trump administration's foreign policy mettle, according to a new piece in The Atlantic.

On Wednesday, Pakistan claimed to have downed several Indian fighter jets in response to India's attack on Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir earlier this week. Pakistan claimed 21 people were killed in the strikes, including two children, and vowed further retaliation. India claimed it was striking back after a terror attack on India-controlled Kashmir killed more than 20 tourists in April.

The Atlantic writer Tom Nichols claimed that it's in America's best interest "to prevent a larger conflict, which would be a diplomatic and humanitarian disaster on multiple levels even without the introduction of nuclear weapons."

He wrote, "We must hope that the [Trump] administration, which so far seems obsessed only with political revenge, culture wars, and indulging the president’s pet economic theories, can rise to this occasion."

ALSO READ: ‘Pain. Grief. Anger’: Families heartbroken as Trump backlash smashes adoption dreams

Nichols postulated, "Perhaps President Donald Trump is meeting with National Security Adviser Marco Rubio, who in turn is handling meetings and contributions from administration leaders such as…well, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And maybe Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are working hand in glove with other top National Security Council members to provide Trump with solid options for approaching the nations (as well as other interested parties) and de-escalating a potentially existential crisis."

"It would be pretty to think so," Nichols wrote, paraphrasing Ernest Hemingway.

Nichols gave an example of Trump's ignorance of the situation in South Asia when the president commented, "They’ve been fighting for many, many decades, and centuries, actually, if you really think about it." Except they didn't start fighting until they became two independent nations in 1947.

Nichols wrote that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "for his part, seems engaged" in lessening the conflict, having "reached out to the Pakistani prime minister and the Indian external affairs minister in an effort to lessen tensions; he has also engaged with both countries’ national security advisers."

Nichols encouraged the rest of the administration to "focus far less on its internal grievances (and insulting our allies), and more on keeping the nuclear peace."

Read The Atlantic article here.