Friendship, by way of deception! by Naveed Ahmad

Despite losing over two dozen troops to trigger-happy Americans, the Pakistanis are truly in a festive mood. United and relieved, to say the least!

The burden of a forced marriage is offloaded and, once again, the sanction-hardened nation is ready to pay the price of defiance. Similar was the atmosphere after 1998 tit-for-tat nuclear tests aimed to snub a jeering eastern neighbor. Now the Western side spills patriotism and dignity amongst 188 million citizens of Pakistan -- literally meaning “Land of the Pure.” Call it the Green Spring if you will. Across the mighty Atlantic, a Nobel Peace laureate acts deaf and blind in the cozy confines of the White House. This time around, Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama’s pilots eliminated the soldiers of a friendly army instead of the usual, his Florida-operated drones releasing Hellfire missiles on suspected residents of mud huts in Godforsaken lands along the Pak-Afghan border. Read more