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"Officials said that India expects the United States to come down heavily on Pakistan either if it escalates the conventional war (which India thinks it cannot win) or if it goes for a nuclear strike."

Sure the US would support India against Pakistan, but I am wondering just what India expects from the US. If I were Powell I would be telling India not to start anything it can't finish on its own.

I don't think anyone would bother coming to Pakistans aid, (Iran maybe) but if the US gets involved, China is just waiting for the US to be sufficiently distracted to launch against Taiwan. Don't want to encourage them.

It depends on what we promised India after the December terror attack. India were all set to launch attacks on Pakistan after that, but the U.S. put a lot of pressure on India, I'm thinking we probably told them "look, don't start a war, we'll force Pakistan into taking drastic action against Islamic terrorists that they are supporting if you guys promise not to go on the offensive just now", and India probably said "OK, we'll give it a shot".
Clearly, for whatever reason, it hasn't worked and Pakistan has done nothing to stop the terror.
Just my take on it.