The latest biannual White House report to the US Congress about the performance of the Government of Pakistan and the counterinsurgency efforts of its army, states that Pakistan is making little progress in the past year in battling militants and there is no clear path toward defeating the insurgency in the country. Coming on the heels of the Raymond Davis affair, the lethal drone attack on a tribal jirga in North Waziristan killing 41 civilians, and the subsequent Pakistans pulling out of the March 26 trilateral ministerial meeting with USA and Afghanistan, it smacks of doublespeak. So Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tehmina Janjua has rightly rejected US criticism of Pakistans war efforts. The latest dmarche by the US depicts a myopic view of the Pakistani nation and its army. Pakistans economic and political problems notwithstanding, it has a professional army, which has become battled hardened and well honed in the war against terror. The army has not only assimilated the lessons learnt in counterinsurgency operations, but also managed to score unprecedented success. Its complete routing of the miscreants in Swat and South Waziristan have been acknowledged, as an achievement by all the major powers involved in combating terrorism. It is sad that whenever, the US faces tough opposition in Afghanistan, it finds an easy scapegoat in Pakistan and blames it for its woes. Here two recent publications merit attention; both focus on the same topic but are divergent in their views. The first is Professor Anatol Lievens book titled Pakistan: A Hard Country, which is an assessment of Pakistan as a viable and coherent state. Equipped by nuclear weapons, threatened by Al-Qaeda, victim of several raging insurgencies and strife torn because of a chronically unstable political structure most Western experts continue to view Pakistan, as the most dangerous country in the world. Thus, this book could hardly be timelier. Lucid and well informed, he deals carefully with Pakistans well-known problems. He raises hope, avoiding the hysteria and partial judgment that disfigure much contemporary writing on the subject. Above all, he emanates a deep affection bordering on love for the unfortunate, beleaguered, magical Pakistan. Lievens research takes him to an army cantonment in Quetta, boar-hunting in the Punjab and to a stay in the Taliban-dominated Mohmand Agency on the North West Frontier. He, a former foreign correspondent who is now professor of terrorism studies at Kings College, London, talks to relevant stakeholders: farmers, intelligence officers, judges, clerics, politicians, doctors, soldiers, and jihadis. In the course of this journey, he demolishes the neo-conservative narrative that Pakistan is dominated by a mortal struggle between virtuous modernity and rage-filled Islamist conservatism. He insists that Pakistan is not - as Western intelligence agencies, journalists and think-tanks believe - a country on the brink; nor should anyone worry about its nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands. Pakistan is not about to be taken over by Islamists. The second publication is by the notorious Pakistan-baiter and staunch critic, Bruce Riedel. The former CIA operative, in his book, Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of Global Jihad, depicts his usual love for India and spews venom against Pakistan. Once again raising the spectre of the insecurity of Pakistans nuclear weapons, Riedel uses the assassination of Governor Salman Taseer to build his argument. He snidely remarks that Pakistanis have been insisting that an intense vetting system make sure that 'fundos do not make away with its nuclear weapons. He argues that a similar system was supposed to assure that armed bodyguards are loyal to the government, and to the officials they are supposed to protect, alluding to Qadri, the security guard who killed Taseer. He incorrectly states that, for thoughtful Indians, the crisis in Pakistan is a nightmare on their border, giving the impression that a jihadist Pakistan is the globes worst nightmare of the 21st century. Pakistan has indeed paid a high price in the war on terror. Unfortunately, its efforts and sacrifices have not been fully recognised by the Western media, think-tanks and other stakeholders like the US and EU. Instead, anti-Pakistan propaganda has been aired to tarnish the image of the country, its armed forces and intelligence agencies. In Maos words, wind blows against Pakistan from all sides, and now even the White House has jumped into the fray, which does not augur well for regional and world peace. The writer is a political and defence columnist.