Dealing With Terrorists: Sometimes Talking Is the Lesser Evil

Using dialogue to find political solutions to conflicts involving “terrorist groups” has largely been discounted in the arena of international diplomacy, writes the director of the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue. Reasons for discarding this approach are threefold: By resorting to violence, terrorist groups forfeit their right to dialogue; engagement could legitimize the terrorists’ tactics; and finally, talk is futile when terrorists’ demands are unachievable. However, to categorically rule out engagement, warns Martin Griffiths, eliminates a powerful tool for ending violent conflict. Differentiating among terrorist militants, guerilla forces and civil combatants has become more challenging, and Griffiths writes that “history teaches us that more often than not we do need to negotiate.” Engagement can prompt the search for a common humanity and become the foundation for bringing an end to violent conflicts. – YaleGlobal