F or most of the past 25 years, “phenomenal” was not a word many Americans used to describe Pakistan’s co-operation on counter-terrorism. Yet that is how General Michael Kurilla, then head of America’s Central Command, characterised it in June. His praise was striking not just because American officials have long accused Pakistan of covertly backing the Afghan Taliban and sheltering Osama bin Laden, who was killed by American special forces in a Pakistani garrison town in 2011. The remark also came seven weeks after India blamed a terrorist attack in Kashmir on Pakistan, which has a long history of sponsoring similar assaults on Indian soil.

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