That Canadian guy and his family who were hostages in Afghanistan

Sort of has disappeared from the news, but SP has a long article on it HERE. 

A new (since early 2017) American government apparently ordered the couple to be found and freed no matter where they were and who held them. The family were soon tracked to a Haqqani hideout in Pakistan and Pakistan was told to either get the family freed or the U.S. would send in commandos to do it and the Pakistani generals did not want that. The 2011 American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani sanctuary (that ISI long denied existed) was an embarrassment the Pakistani military has still not recovered from. Another incident like that would be much worse. 

So Pakistan staged their own “commando operation” near the Afghan border and got the captives (at least the Canadian Boyle) to go along with the cover story

this interests me, because up to now, the bad guys here do a lot of kidnapping for money (mainly Islamic offshoots but also the NPA).

Up to a few years ago, they tended to avoid kidnapping Yanks because they knew the Americans would rescue them (and kill a lot of them) and not pay money.

Their favorites were Italians and other EU types, who often paid cash even though they usually denied it and of course it is illegal.

 But then, President Obama decided it was okay to pay, and this worried me a lot. Of course, by now the NPA in our area has calmed down but still, it was like putting a "kidnap me and get rich" sign on every Yank in the Philippines. And of course, the embassy did nothing to pressure the gov't about the murder of our nephew: The mayor stayed out of jail by bribery, but American pressure would have made someone decide taking the bribe was too risky. But of course, under President Obama, human rights (read abortion and gay marriage) were the big items, not keeping the 100 thousand plus Yanks here safe.

Well, if SP is right, then "the new (since early 2017) American government" is again playing hard ball with the bad guys.

read the whole thing.

And the Pakistanis are building a fence to stop terrorists and smugglers, and a lot of information about the politics, India, Russia and Chinese influences in the area.