There is a lot of good a president can do on a visit to another country: negotiate treaties that enhance American security, shore up a shaky alliance, generate good will in important parts of the world. But President Bush didn’t do any of those good things on his just-completed visit to Pakistan and India.

The misconceived trip may have inflicted serious damage to American goals in two vital areas, namely, mobilising international diplomacy against the spread of nuclear weapons and encouraging Pakistan to take more effective action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters operating from its territory. The nuclear deal that he concluded with India threatens to blast a bomb-size loophole through the NPT. It would have been disastrously ill timed because it undercuts some of the most powerful arguments Washington can make to try to galvanise international opposition to Iran’s nuclear adventurism.

It’s just baffling why Bush travelled halfway around the world to stand right next to one of his allies against terrorists — and embarrass him. It would be a bad idea to grant a loophole to a country whose top nuclear scientist helped transfer nuclear technology to leading rogue states. Granting India a loophole that damages a vital treaty and lets New Delhi accelerate production of nuclear bombs makes no sense either.