Jonathan Powell says we must talk to terrorists to end armed conflicts
"We don't negotiate with evil," former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney once said. "We defeat it." It's the stern doctrine of our times for how to deal with the threat of terrorism. Have no truck with terrorists, those who hate our freedoms and take joy only in senseless death and destruction and inflicting unspeakable pain on peace-loving innocents.
"We don't negotiate with evil," former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney once said. "We defeat it."
It's the stern doctrine of our times for how to deal with the threat of terrorism. Have no truck with terrorists, those who hate our freedoms and take joy only in senseless death and destruction and inflicting unspeakable pain on peace-loving innocents.
Rather, crush the terrorists with the implacable forces of liberty, righteousness and military might.
It was in that atmosphere in 2006, with Canada at war in Afghanistan, that Jack Layton, the late former leader of the NDP, suggested NATO countries like Canada should open dialogue with the Taliban as a way to hasten the end of the conflict and facilitate some kind of peace and stability in the strife-torn nation.
Layton was widely ridiculed and saddled with the nickname, Taliban Jack. But the West did end up making overtures to the Taliban, albeit with limited success.
In 2008, Jonathan Powell, having just completed a decade as Chief of Staff to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, went further than Layton. He also spoke up about negotiating with the Taliban...and Hamas and al-Qaeda. He had been Tony Blair's lead negotiator in the Northern Ireland peace process.
These days, Powell works full-time in geopolitical conflict resolution with his London-based charity called Inter Mediate.
In his new book, Talking To Terrorists: How To End Armed Conflicts, he argues that if we want to end the fear and violence that grip countries besieged by the threat of terror, we are going to have to negotiate with terrorists. No matter how irrational, militant or bloodthirsty they seem.