Trump-Khan bonhomie resets bilateral ties.

Byline: Salman Masood

ISLAMABAD -- Fireworks were already being expected out of the meeting between Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump. But the meeting at the White House exceeded all expectations. The outcome enlivened Pakistan and dampened the spirits of the Indians. Mr Khan not only pulled one of the biggest Pakistani crowds in Washington, D.C. but also picked a diplomatic win of a scale that few people anticipated. President Trump's offer to mediate on the Kashmir issue instantly infuriated the Indians and showcased Mr Khan's success in putting the festering conflict once again under the international spotlight.

Both Trump and Imran have enjoyed international celebrity status before their political journeys saw them catapulted to the highest offices. Both have a populist, nationalist appeal. Both have vowed to make their countries great again. And, each of them has been critical of the handling of their respective states by the past rulers. The commonalities don't end here. Both leaders feel that they get subjected to harsher criticism by their media. So, there was some prior expectation that both leaders will hit it off. Still, there is always an element of uncertainty in such high-stake meetings, and Mr Khan did appear tentative and conscious in the beginning. But gradually he eased up after the charm offensive by Mr Trump. 'We were blown away,' Mr Khan said, a day after the White House meeting. 'When we met President Trump, the straightforward, charming way he treated us was wonderful,' Mr Khan said while giving a speech at the United States Institute of Peace, an American think-tank.

In a way, the US visit has also given Prime Minister Khan his yet another 'I told you so' moment. For years, Mr Khan has railed against the use of military force in the Afghan conflict. He has been one of the most vociferous critics of the use of drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal regions by the United States. On his first trip to Washington, D.C., since assuming office as the prime minister, Mr Khan gloated in the fact that he was one of the first ones to suggest that the Afghan conflict was intractable and had no military solution, only a political one.

'When I came here in 2009, I told everyone, Democratic and Republican leaders, that there is no military solution in Afghanistan. This time, everyone gets that. That's why we'll have a good relationship with the US; everyone is on the same page,' Mr Khan said.

The current...