Pakistan, Aug. 6 -- The fourth Pakistan-US counterterrorism dialogue was held in Washington two days after a suicide blast carried out by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outside a Swat police station killed 17 people. Perhaps, the proximity served as a reminder to those standing at the wheel that Pakistan is fighting an active war, one measured in funerals for policemen, soldiers and civilians rather than in the reassuring vocabulary of "shared resolve."

Still, Washington's latest statement deserves attention because it put the TTP, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its affiliates, Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) and Al Qaeda on a single official ledger. These names have appeared before in American assessments, especially the BLA, w...