U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called senior officials in India and Pakistan in an effort to defuse the crisis that followed last week’s deadly attack in Kashmir, the State Department said. Rubio urged Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to de-escalate tensions on Wednesday.

PM Narendra Modi gave the armed forces full operational freedom to choose the mode, targets, and timing of the country’s response to the Pahalgam attack.

Pakistan is bracing for Indian military action before Thursday night, officials warned, but cautioned that neither side would benefit from a return to war.