US Secretary of State Robert Gates, said earlier this week that the US military had stopped asking Pakistan to root out militants from the Haqqani network hiding in North Waziristan. The reason was that the US felt continuously prodding and nagging Pakistan was 'counter-productive'.
Fact is: the Pak Army considers this network to be its most strategic asset in Pak's shenanigns in Afghanistan - a hedge against other nations helping Afghanistan rebuild and it is reluctant to kill the goose that lays them golden eggs.
As if on command, Pak's twirling in the wind, media-hogging, chatter-box Ambassador to the US, immediately did the rounds telling US networks that the US understood Pak's compulsions and was sympathetic to their needs - yadda, yadda, yadda. All this to create the impression that Big Daddy USA was really on Pakistan's side.
Now we know what Secretary Gates really meant.
Having denied Pak transfer of drone technology, knowing they will use it against India, this morning a suspected US drone attack in the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan is believed to have killed at least seven people.
Interestingly this is the first drone strike in Pakistan, since the monsoon floods that have devastated the region.
We get it. The US finally acknowledges that it can no longer trust its 'great ally'.
Let the games begin.
