Pakistan, April 8 -- Imagine a Pakistan where our youth find good jobs not in far?off cities but in their hometowns, where mineral royalties fund schools in Quetta, roads in Swat, and hospitals in Karachi. Next week's visit by a U.S. delegation led by Eric Meyer could make that vision real. Tasked with bolstering counter?terrorism ties and scouting economic partnerships, their focus on our $6?trillion mineral treasure chest is a wake?up call: it's time to stop exporting raw narratives of crisis and start exporting refined success.

From the copper and gold veins of Balochistan to the marble quarries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan's subterranean wealth has long been overshadowed by bureaucracy, insecurity, and missed opportunity. But as t...