Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir walked into the White House on Thursday expecting a show of power and prestige. What they got instead was a long wait ‘somewhere’ at the Oval Office, vague compliments from a distracted American president, and a meeting that did not even qualify as an official state visit.

US President Donald Trump kept the pair waiting for more than 30 minutes before finally receiving them. Ahead of the meeting he told journalists that “they may even be in this room right now” and called Munir a “great guy” and Sharif a “great leader” without mentioning either of their names. For a country that still imagines itself as a key US partner, it was a moment of humiliation.

The meeting – touted as a diplomatic victory back in Islamabad – had

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