There is reason for hope in Nawaz Sharif‘s victory in the recent Pakistani elections. Sharif, who has twice served as Pakistan’s prime minister, has said he wants to build a more robust democracy, revive the country’s shattered economy and end the military’s 40-year domination of its politics. He has also promised to improve relations with India and take on the radical Islamist terrorism that has tormented Pakistan. The United States should assist him in every way possible to achieve those goals. But there is also ample reason for caution. The U.S. has a long history of “betting on the come,” of...

While western strategists debate the consequences of withdrawing from the long, drip-bleed conflict in Afghanistan, events across its porous eastern border should remind us that the real strategic challenge in the region is Pakistan. Nuclear-armed and bristling with jihadist groups selectively licensed by its generals, Pakistan – at the intersection of central and south Asia and the Middle East, and on a constant state of alert against India – is again being pulled apart by the egotism of its political class. With elections due in May, Pakistan has just been hit by three thunderbolts. Yet another massacre by Sunni extremists against the...