Recently, I argued that Pakistan is not in a position to be either a friend or foe of the United States, due to the de facto civil war among Pakistani's pro-Western and anti-Western citizens.

Pew recently reported that younger generations "favor multilateralism over unilateralism and the use of diplomacy – rather than relying on military strength -- to ensure peace." We need to see that hard power is often best used in restraint, and that soft power can be thrown away by a few criminals in the White House deciding they know what's best about interrogation methods.

The message is clear: voters want more, not less, global engagement. They understand that in today's interconnected world it is not an option to wait until the economy recovers before facing global challenges. Should it continue engaging with the world in smart ways, the United States will find plenty of cooperation. Among all the countries surveyed, a majority say that U.S. influence on global affairs is positive.

If the State Department proves unable to maintain America’s leadership—either in physical or now increasingly in virtual environments—other institutions, individuals, networks, or governments surely will fill the vacuum, and not always in ways that serve America’s interests.

The league’s latest attempt to introduce American football to a Chinese audience was more modest: A traveling version of the “NFL Experience” interactive marketing event held Sunday in Shanghai gave locals – and plenty of Americans – a chance to punt, pass and kick like the pros. American football isn’t a natural sell in China.

When America admits migrants, it is not diluting its own culture, but spreading its ideals across the world. No other country has such influence. The closest contender, the European Union, wields tremendous soft power by letting neighboring countries join, as fifteen (mostly Eastern European) states have since the end of the cold war.

'I think, we have had a really good take off on making a Sesame Sim Sim Hamara which belongs to Pakistan. It has Pakistani characters, it has content which is specially designed for Pakistan and there is a lot of development on the side of making an international level production,'

Soft power relies heavily on the image of the U.S. abroad as a tolerant, democratic, fair and open society. Any deviance from this image by the U.S. will be noticed and ultimately will undermine American efforts to assert soft power and achieve its diplomatic aims.