In the days before India’s missile strikes against Pakistan on Wednesday triggered the region’s worst conflict in more than two decades, Narendra Modi projected the confidence befitting a man leading the most populous nation in an increasingly rudderless world.

As India planned the air strikes, Modi had a busy schedule that included a visit by Angola’s president Jo?o Louren?o, a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and — just hours before the attack — a friendly chat with Sir Keir Starmer after India signed a landmark free trade agreement with the UK.

In Pakistan, Asim Munir, the army chief and de facto leader, was also getting ready for war. He installed his confidante and the country’s intelligence chief, Asim Malik, as national security adviser, observed a ballistic missile test, and huddled with his generals. He also hosted Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, who was in the region to help defuse rising tensions over a mass shooting of tourists in late April in Pahalgam, Kashmir, that India has blamed on Pakistani-backed extremists.