Published on, Sept. 24 -- September 24, 2025 4:04 AM

Another year, another report - and once again, Pakistan finds itself branded a Country of Particular Concern by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The accusations are familiar - blasphemy laws misused, Ahmadis persecuted, Christians and Hindus harassed, Afghan refugees cast out.

What is less familiar is introspection. Washington and its watchdogs never pause to ask why the standard of judgment shifts with the flag - why Pakistan is indicted year after year while allies engaged in far darker practices are absolved.

History offers the answer. Religious freedom has long been wielded less as a principle than as leverage. In the Cold War, Washington decried S...