Pakistan, June 19 -- General Asim Munir's scheduled meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House is no routine engagement. Rarely does a Pakistani official, let alone a serving army chief, receive such visibility at the apex of American political power. The last time such optics played out, the regional landscape looked markedly different. That this is unfolding now, during Trump's second presidency, signals not just Pakistan's enduring relevance but also a shift (however tentative) in Washington's South Asia outlook.

This visit carries strategic ballast. It offers Pakistan a platform to disrupt a growing perception of diplomatic irrelevance. Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the deepening of Washington's stra...