Pakistan, June 19 -- Pakistan has done what states of its size are seldom expected to do. It has helped move a dangerous regional confrontation from the edge of a wider war into a negotiated framework. In light of reports that the Islamabad Memorandum has been electronically signed and moved into implementation, Islamabad can legitimately claim that it helped create something more durable than a summit photograph: a working path away from war.

This is why the postponement of a ceremonial visit should not be mistaken for a diplomatic retreat. In serious negotiations, ceremony follows substance. Once the political breakthrough had been secured, the immediate task was no longer to stage optics, but to protect the process from confusion, ove...