An annual threat assessment report by the US Director of National Intelligence has said India and Pakistan don’t seek to return to conflict, however, conditions exist for terrorists to continue creating conditions for crises.The report, put out on Wednesday night in the US, added: “We assess that neither country seeks to return to open conflict, but that conditions exist for terrorist actors to continue to create catalysts for crises.”The terrorist attack last year near Pahalgam, in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, demonstrated the dangers of terrorist attacks sparking conflict, the report said.The US report warned of a nuclear threat saying, “India-Pakistan relations remain a risk for nuclear conflict, given past conflicts where these two nuclear states squared off, creating the danger of escalation.”In a reference to the last year’s clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, the report said, “President Trump’s intervention deescalated the most recent nuclear tensions.”On the growing capabilities of the two countries, the report said, “India also is developing new and longer-range nuclear delivery systems.”Pakistan continues to develop increasingly sophisticated missile technology that provides its military the means to develop missile systems with the capability to strike targets beyond South Asia, it said and expressed fears that India’s neighbour could be developing Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s) – normally classified at a range greater than 5,500 km.Countries with capabilities of having weapons of mass destruction are modernising, expanding, and testing delivery systems. The ongoing development includes dual-use technologies that challenge the ability to detect emergence or the developmental progress of these programmes.With varying degrees of success, China, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia probably will continue to research, develop, and field delivery systems that will increase their ranges.Meanwhile, the report also added on the use of chemical drugs saying while there had been noticeable improvement, China and India remained the primary source countries for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill-pressing equipment.It cited a meeting in October 2025 between US President Donald Trump and  Chinese President Xi Jinping at Busan, South Korea. Beijing agreed to halt the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals to North America, issued an industry advisory notice to China-based companies, and established a new requirement for export licenses for certain fentanyl precursor chemicals.India increased counternarcotic efforts last year. In January 2026, Prime Minister Modi and other Indian officials signalled a willingness to deepen engagement with the US on counternarcotics. Despite these actions, Mexico-based drug traffickers continue to circumvent international controls through mis-labelled shipments and the purchase of unregulated chemicals.