IF YOU don’t know what to do, better to do nothing—and the United States does not really know what to do in Pakistan. Moreover, things there are not nearly as bad as the Western media and some excitable politicians present. The situation is deteriorating, but the country is not yet close to failing. Although it is a flawed state, menaced by terrorists and insurgents, it is still a largely effective one.

By pushing for particular political outcomes, the United States does more harm than good to its own interests—because, to put it mildly, the United States is not popular in Pakistan today. And if it keeps meddling, America will strengthen Islamist radicalism and could even help push Pakistan toward disintegration.

The United States urgently needs a new strategy. Washington must get over the idea that it can and should micromanage political outcomes in countries like Pakistan. Trying to produce governments that both uncritically accept all U.S. security requests and also pass our democracy litmus test is hopeless given the fact that the overwhelming majority of voters in Pakistan are hostile to U.S. strategy in the region.