Pakistani hostages

This past Friday, the Taliban released 8 out of more than 3 dozen Pakistani officials that were being held hostage. The Taliban has been successful in making deals with the Pakistani government since the new government took office in February of this year. Seeing as the Taliban was threatening to kill them all, this looks like the Taliban is interested in another deal.

As a general rule, I am not contraire. I like to come up with my own ideas. Regarding Islamic terrorism however, whatever they want, or I see as good for them, I want the opposite. NO DEALS. This is why I have been critical of the Pakistani government. This is why I see this situation as a good indicator as to how serious the Pakistani government is in fighting organized terrorism.

As a historical note, President Lincoln ended trading prisoners during the U.S. Civil War. Up until that point, a one to one trade between Union prisoners and Confederate prisoners was common. President Lincoln realized that with a numerical superiority of 3 to 1 over the Confederacy, it was not in the Union’s interest for a 1 to 1 trade. In fact, it was not in the Union’s interest to trade prisoners at all. This policy of no deals held from that point on until the end of the war.