(CNN)During Pakistan’s national election campaign last year, Imran Khan was dismissed by detractors as a political lightweight and foreign policy novice who relied on populism and deference to the country’s influential military for support.
Now, just over six months into his role as Prime Minister, those claims are being tested, as Khan finds his country closer to war with its nuclear-armed neighbor, India, than at any point in the past 20 years.
The crisis began earlier this month when a suicide car bomb attack in Pulwama, in Indian-administered Kashmir, killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers.
India blamed the attack on a Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and said Pakistan itself had a “direct hand” in it.
Tensions escalated even more this week, with an Indian airstrike on Pakistani soil, followed by retaliatory measures by Pakistani forces that resulted in the capture of an Indian pilot.
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the US-based Wilson Center, says the crisis will likely give Khan’s popularity a boost.
“In Pakistan there’s nothing like aggression from India to rally the people,” he said. “The fact that Pakistan had India come into the country to stage these airstrikes, it’s an embarrassment for the military. But the entire country will rally round Imran Kahn to support him.”
However, Kugelman said this is a political test for Khan, who formed his own party 23 years ago.
“He certainly is a neophyte, he has no experience as a national leader, he’s been a politician for a number of years but hasn’t been in a position of national power,” he added.
