Talking to the Taliban
Anyone aware of the problems the army used to face moving soldiers around South Armagh and the importance of the helicopters based at Bessbrook for resupplying the border surveillance towers will have followed the debate about the need for more helicopters in order to avoid landmine attack in Afghanistan with a degree of familiarity.
Now we have a spate of stories about many accompanied with references to the Northern Ireland example. However as Lord Ashdown pointed out this morning on Good Morning Ulster and in discussion with Douglas Alexander there are limits to the analogy, not least that the Taliban leadership seems convinced at the moment it has far more to gain from continuing fighting.
Jeff Dudgeon sent me a copy of his News Letter review of John Bew, Martyn Frampton, and Inigo Gurruchaga's new book "Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country". He distills the book's message as "terrorism thrives on talking, unless already in yield mode. And that state force works." It is, I suppose, working out when an organisation might be entering "yield mode" which is the difficult part.
I'm 
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