I’ve spent the past few weeks watching something unusual happen: a country that the world discussed a few years back for its problems – debt, politics, security – became the place where a war stopped.

In late February, Iran’s supreme leader was killed in strikes that opened six weeks of fighting across a dozen countries, by some estimates costing thousands of lives, including well over a thousand civilians inside Iran. By early April, with President Trump’s deadline for a final escalation just ninety minutes from expiring, it was Pakistan’s prime minister who announced a ceasefire – not just for Iran, but, as Shehbaz Sharif put it, “everywhere,” including Lebanon, where Hezbollah and Israel had been trading fire. Islamabad then opened its doors to host the follow-up talks. I don’t think that’s a small thing. Analysts who study the region have called it one of Pakistan’s most significant diplomatic achievements in years, and pointed out that it defied a lot of people who didn’t think Islamabad had the capacity to pull it off.

What strikes me more than the ceasefire itself is the reaction to it from two capitals in particular.

Israel’s ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, has not been shy about his irritation. He’s called Pakistan an........

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