His government sees the stakes as high. An international watchdog group, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, is on the brink of blacklisting and sanctioning Pakistan. If that happened, Pakistan would face greater difficulties in obtaining the financial bailouts and loans it has sought.

“We can’t afford to be blacklisted,’’ he said on Tuesday.

But Mr. Khan has also won praise for his seemingly coolheaded and statesmanlike behavior during the recent crisis with India, which he helped de-escalate by releasing a captured Indian pilot and emphasizing peace. He seemed quite cognizant that the last thing Pakistan needed was a war.

On Feb. 26, around 3:30 a.m., Mr. Khan said he was awakened by a phone call. A top military official told him that Indian warplanes had just crossed the border and conducted airstrikes on Pakistani soil.

Pakistan and India have been bitter enemies since 1947 when Britain decolonized the Indian subcontinent and created two nations: the mostly Hindu India, and the mostly Muslim Pakistan. The two have warred several times.

This time, the spark was a suicide bombing in the disputed territory of Kashmir that killed dozens of Indian soldiers. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the militant group behind the attack and vowed revenge.

After learning that the Indian bombs had fallen into an empty ravine around Balakot (India said the bombs had struck a terrorist training camp), Mr. Khan said Pakistan opted for a measured response and bombed an empty area just across the Indian border.