Pakistan, Oct. 16 -- Pakistan's announcement of a forty-eight-hour ceasefire at the request of the Afghan Taliban has brought a fragile stillness to a frontier that has burned for weeks. The Foreign Office described the pause as an opportunity to "pursue positive engagement," but this window is only meaningful if it yields tangible accountability. The pattern of violence that began with Taliban incursions across the border, the killing of Pakistani soldiers, and the desecration of their bodies cannot be brushed aside by diplomatic phrasing or fleeting restraint.

Islamabad's response to those outrages was neither impulsive nor disproportionate. Precision strikes against identified Taliban installations in Kandahar and Kabul were the state...