Three questions to Jonathan Powell on why to talk to terrorists

2015-06-30

Jonathan Powell, British diplomat and former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s chief of staff, one of the architects behind the Good Friday peace agreement on Northern Ireland and founder of the NGO Inter Mediate, participated in FBA’s seminar in Almedalen on Tuesday 30th of June.

He recently published the book “Talking to Terrorists” where he advocates that sooner or later we always need to negotiate with terrorists; and why not sooner?

Why should governments talk to ISIS or Boko Haram?

Looking back in history, every time we meet a new terrorist organisation we say we will not talk to them and every time so far we eventually have done so to create a peace process. If this process has happened to PLO and IRA – why not for al-Qaida or ISIS?

Can you be friends with a terrorist?

As a negotiatior you need to be trusted by them and you need to have a working relationship with them. If you become friends you can fall into a “Stockholm syndrome” since they often are underdogs.

The Middle East is more unstable than in many years – what’s your prediction on the near future?

I believe we’re making a mistake to think that the Arab spring has ended. Every revolution has a counter revolution and I believe we’re looking at the middle of the Arab spring saying that it’s over, when this is just the beginning.

Making the voices of the Afghan people heard in the peace talks between the Taliban and the government

Historic peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban movement have just begun. But how will the voices of the Afghan people be brought to the negotiation table? A new platform, run by the Afghan civil society with practical support from the FBA and funding from the EU, will bring together the concerns and desires of the Afghans, and transmit them to the negotiators.

2020-09-16 10:05

On international deployment

Kristian Edqvist

Training manager in Brussels

Catalina Perdomo Rodriguez

Adviser to the UN in Colombia

Johan Chytraeus

Monitoring officer in Ukraine

Karolina Riedel

Statistician in election observation missions

Johan Fredborn Larsson

Political adviser in Mali

Vanda Dahlbom

Analyst in Iraq

Björn Tedeman

Election observer

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