New Delhi, June 18 -- President Donald Trump's private lunch with Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Syed Asim Munir Wednesday afternoon at the White House, much to India's discomfort, proves yet again what needs no proving-that Islamabad's political leadership is just a sideshow and the US-Pakistan strategic alliance remains strong.

For the U.S. president to host Pakistan's Army chief - there are not many foreign army chiefs that a US president will host a lunch for - a recently-minted field marshal, while that country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif watches from 7000-plus miles, says everything about the power dynamic in the South Asian nation.

This is a private lunch closed to the press, which means that what transpires during it is unli...