The Moment

Faisal Mahmood / Reuters

Pakistani soldiers stand ready in militant-ridden South Waziristan during an offensive against local Taliban forces

The U.S. has not had a uniform experience with Pakistan's generals over the years. Washington's Cold War entanglements with the top brass in Islamabad eventually spawned, with disastrous consequences, the Afghan Taliban. In the war against terrorism, the Pakistan military — with its historic ties to the region's jihadis — has been at once the U.S.'s most essential ally and its most troublesome obstacle. Enter General Ashfaq Kayani, the current army chief. His presence in talks between a Pakistani delegation and top officials in the U.S. capital overshadowed that of his country's civilian Foreign Minister — a sign of...

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