T quickly degenerated into a Trump-level farce, but the US president has not been involved so far. A routine congratulatory call by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Prime Minister Imran Khan has caused an immediate and wholly unnecessary wrinkle in the relationship between the Trump and Khan administrations. A readout of the call between the secretary of state and the prime minister issued by the US State Department stated that `Secretary Pompeo raised the importance of Pakistan taking decisive action against all terrorists operating in Pakistan` seemingly a brusque warning to the new civilian dispensation that the US intends to continue with its do-more mantra. In response to the State Department readout, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi chose to flatly contradict the US version of the call where Secretary Pompeo allegedly referred to `terrorists operating in Pakistan`, presumably a reference to externally orientated militants on Pakistani soil that the world accuses Pakistan of being lenient towards.

The US`s counterreaction to the Pakistani reaction has been cautious and emphasised other, positive aspects of the call between Secretary Pompeo and Prime Minister Khan. Belatedly, Foreign Minister Qureshi has also said that Pakistan looks forward to Secretary Pompeo`s visit in the first week of September. Prime Minister Khan is a novice in international relations. He can reasonably expect to be ably guided by a Foreign Office steeped in the ways of a rocky but important bilateral relationship with the US. In a maiden press conference on returning to the Foreign Office after seven years, Foreign Minister Qureshi had emphasised his past contacts with US foreign policy principals. Surely, then, Mr Qureshi and the Foreign Office he now leads ought to have handled the matter better. What the State Department has claimed its secretary said to Prime Minister Khan is hardly a surprise given the hawkishness of the Trump administration. If the disputed words were in fact said by Secretary Pompeo, Prime Minister Khan could easily have responded with boilerplate diplomatic language.

The Foreign Office also ought have been aware that the State Department will issue a readout of the call, allowing it to either coordinate press releases or issue a Pakistani version. To flatly accuse the State Department of lying ought to have been the last of all possible actions taken. Mr Qureshi will need to do better.

The US too should recognise Pakistani compulsions and approach matters in a spirit of cooperation rather than confrontation. The second part of the disputed sentence in the State Department`s readout should be reason enough for cautious US diplomacy: Pakistan`s `vital role in promoting the Afghan peace process.` A political settlement to end the war in Afghanistan and deny space to Islamic State in that country should be the urgent priorities of all regional and international powers. Now is not the time for boorish US diplomacy.