Is Pakistan playing with the US again?

Joshua Boyle, a Canadian, and his wife, Caitlan Coleman, an American, held hostage by Pakistani Taliban for 5 years, were rescued by Pakistani forces a couple of days ago. The couple have 3 children, born while in captivity. Boyle has alleged that one infant daughter was murdered by the Taliban and his wife was raped by one of the guards. Why were they having children while being held by barbaric savages, when the woman would not have medical supervision of her pregnancy and delivery? It could be because they had nothing else to do or, because they may have thought that even savages would not harm her if she was pregnant or breast-feeding. We do not know, but the story is certainly very strange. Boyle, whose parents are fundamentalist Christians, became interested in terrorism after 9/11 and even learnt Arabic. He was briefly married to Zaynab Khadr, oldest sister of Omar Khadr, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay. He could have converted to Islam. "He was given special breaks from his job as customer service representative to pray at appropriate times, his co-workers say," wrote Mayor T Ritchie. The family refused to board a flight to the US because Boyle feared arrest over his previous links to Islamists. President Trump thanked Pakistan for its cooperation saying that "I believe they're starting to respect the United States again". This is a snide reference to Pakistani support for terrorist networks, like the Haqqanis. Defence Secretary, James Mattis told Congress. "So, there are decisions Pakistan must make. We are out to change that behaviour and do it very firmly." Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khawaja Asif was given a hostile reception in Washington, wrote S Sirohi. Pakistan has been throwing such bones to the US for a very long time. President Reagan invited Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani network. to the White House. In 2011, the Pakistan Army helped the US to kill Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad. Obama won re-election in 2012 and showed his gratitude by showering Pakistan with sophisticated weapons, including P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, 2000 TOW anti-armor missiles, and 20 Cobra attack helicopters, among others, which could only be used against India. Confident of US support Pakistan has increased terrorist attacks on India. A few attacks were from Maoists and other insurgents but the majority were cross-border from Pakistan. The farcical house arrest of Hafiz Saeed has just been withdrawn. So, is the release of the hostages a bargain for the release of Saeed? We hope not. But, we will not be surprised if it is.