US, Aug. 25 -- When the United States ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, stood in Srinagar last week and called Jammu and Kashmir "an important part of India," Islamabad reacted like someone had crossed a red line, maybe. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the senior American diplomat there, and lodged a formal protest, claiming that the comment went against Washington's long-held view that Kashmir is disputed ground.

India, as expected, took the words with approval. Both capitals treated the sentence as a declaration. It is more useful to read it as a symptom.

The temptation is to over-read it. A single phrase from one ambassador, even one who doubles as Washington's special envoy for South and Central Asia and enjoys direct access to...