Monthly Archives: August 2010

Are we any closer to a peace deal in Afghanistan? Probably not, though it’s no surprise to find the beleagured Allies wishing and hoping that a deal was possible after a month in which Nato troops suffered their worst ever losses (102 brave men killed in June). The problem is that the ingredients for a negotiation are simply not present.

The new commander of the Nato forces in Afghanistan, General Petreus, has an unenviable task. He is expected to wage a war that makes us look like we are winning, when we are not. He is also expected to create the conditions for peace, so that there can be a phased withdrawal by Coalition troops – which President Obama has signalled is to begin from the middle of 2011 onwards.

Yet this withdrawal can only happen if either (A) a peaceful solution is negotiated or – Plan (B) – the Afghan army is trained to the point where it has the capacity to lead the fight in the absence of Coalition troops. The Coalition has been enthusiastically talking up this possibility, but it seems somewhat remote. So, at the same time they have been equally enthusiastically clutching at any indication that peace talks are on the cards. Much has been made, for example, of the recent 3 day peace assembly or “Jirga” which took place in Kabul at which 1,600 delegates voiced their approval of President Karzai’s 156 page peace proposal. Optimism has also arisen as a result of unprecedented talks between Karzai and Pakistan’s General Ahmed Shuja Pasha (the head of their Intelligence Agency) about how Pakistan might mediate with Taliban insurgents based in its territory.

However, any optimism concerning peace talks is surely wishful […]

The publication of Peter Mandelson’s memoirs of New Labour, “The Third Man” gives a fascinating insight into the mind of a great negotiator. It also reveals that even this master negotiator has some weak spots.

Peter Mandelson has successfully negotiated his way through more than a dozen years of Labour being in power, displaying enormous deal-making skills.

The perfect negotiator has all the possible negotiation behaviours at his finger tips. He can push for things when he needs to, using behaviour such as creating incentives or pressures for people to comply with his wishes, or making proposals with reasons to back them up. Sound familiar? He can also work off the other side’s agenda – actively listening, focusing on common ground and disclosing information or feelings to put people at their ease. Peter Mandelson has been able to display all of these behaviours too – particularly during his most recent stint in office, when he has been a paragon of easy-listening charm.

Great negotiators also have an instinctive grasp of negotiating process. They understand the value of planning – and Peter Mandelson has always appeared to plan all the way to the end. They know when to explore and how to identify and then exploit the other side’s needs. They know when and how to bid, bargain and close their deals.

Great negotiators also know the difference between “winning” and “losing”, and that “retreating” is not the same as losing. On both occasions when Mandelson has had to leave Ministerial office he has done so without fuss, knowing that his time would come again, and, on the occasion of his second resignation, knowing that a juicy EU Commissioner’s job lay just around the corner.

Master negotiators are also supreme […]