There is something exquisitely revealing about Pakistan’s ruling establishment discovering that American presidents are not hereditary monarchs and congressional elections are not ceremonial inconveniences. For Field Marshal Asim Munir, Shehbaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, the Democrats’ midterm triumph threatens more than diplomatic embarrassment. It could unravel the political protection secured through their extraordinary cultivation of Donald Trump, transforming yesterday’s celebrated Washington connections into tomorrow’s congressional investigations.

The diplomatic triumphs may soon become congressional exhibits.

Few governments have pursued Trump’s affection with Islamabad’s spectacular lack of self-respect.

Sharif, in particular, has elevated presidential sycophancy into something approaching a constitutional responsibility. His repeated enthusiasm for nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize would qualify as political comedy were the consequences not so grotesque.

Sharif, in particular, has elevated presidential sycophancy into something approaching a constitutional responsibility. His repeated enthusiasm for nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize would qualify as political comedy were the consequences not so grotesque.

Even Trump’s devastating war against Iran could not apparently interrupt Sharif’s campaign to secure his patron a medal for international peace making. Perhaps another nomination is overdue, this time honouring Trump’s remarkable achievement in engineering his own party’s spectacular electoral humiliation.

But beneath this theatre of prostration lies a considerably uglier political enterprise.

Munir and Sharif did not merely flatter Trump. They constructed a diplomatic strategy intertwined with the commercial interests of his family, associates and political entourage. Cryptocurrency arrangements involving Trump-linked World Liberty Financial, military procurement involving Powerus, critical-mineral ventures, real-estate negotiations and expensive lobbying operations reveal how thoroughly Pakistan’s engagement with........

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