"Spoiler alert."

"I don't agree with that statement. I mean what makes you assume that a spoiler is always bad?"

"A deal is an agreement between two divergent interest groups and if a deal has been forged then that means that it was a painstaking process that was successful after each side gave in to some extent...see in a deal each side gains a little and loses a little and..."

"That's not always so."

"In the US-Taliban deal, you and I both know that the losers are the Afghan government, propped up by the US and..."

"Right, but they have already become spoilers by pointing out that the Taliban in jails will not be freed because of the deal but only as an outcome of intra-Afghan negotiations that means the Afghan government and the Taliban and you and I both know that the Taliban reckon that in the event of an election, Ashraf Ghani or Abdullah Abdullah are unlikely to get enough votes to lead the government while Ghani reckons..."

"We know what he reckons but we all know Ghani cannot sustain his government even one minute after the US leaves the country so I don't reckon he is as much of a spoiler though he may think he is."

"What about other spoilers?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nawaz Sharif is in London and there is a widespread consensus that he was allowed to leave the country as a convicted man because of a deal so..."

"Well, unlike in other countries in Pakistan the spoilers enter the process after there is no going back..."

"I don't get you."

"The government was part of the deal that allowed him to leave the country and is now acting as a spoiler months after it has no leverage in the matter and by that I mean enforcement powers, it's like how our previous governments dealt with India making dams on rivers in violation of the Indus Water Treaty and we became spoilers after the designated arbitrators acknowledged that there was no going back for India..."

"Indeed, I am going to mint money by giving lessons on how and when to become an effective spoiler."

"Not from our politicians - they play it by ear and the ear is a listening organ and..."

"Stop, do not be facetious."