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Originally Posted by Sticky
Does it matter what they were there for?
- What if they were soldiers?
- What if they were goverment workers (ambassadors, foreign officers, and such)
- What if they were any civilian support for above two groups?
- What if they were tourists that were kidnapped from neigbouring countries byt the Taliban
Does it make a difference?
Do you negotiate in any of these cases?
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Good question. Let me clarify.
My comment refers to those that inject themselves in a situation where they had no business being there. Soldiers, government workers are all there as part of their work (or authorized to be there). The Koreans were there of their own accord and deliberately put themselves in a dangerous situation for no apparent reason (they claim they were no there to proselytize). If they were there to administer humanitarian assistance then they should have gone in with an authorized group or through some agency like the UN.
In other words, they got themselves into that mess.
With the case of kidnapped tourists from neighboring countries I think is totally different.
So, with regards to negotiations, while the IRA example is interesting, you would have to evaluate according to circumstance and type. The IRA, PLO etc are political terrorists or negotiable terrorists. That is, they have a specific political objective they are trying to achieve, using terrorism as a tool. There is something to negotiate.
With other types of terrorists, for example, a catastrophic or non-negotiable terrorist, negotiations are impossible. Their objective is your destruction. Can't really negotiate there. Examples include Al- Qaida, Hezbollah, and Hamas perhaps.
I'm not sure where the Taleban fits but their immediate objective seems to be the release of prisoners. Why am I against negotiations in this particular case? Because I am not certain to what end. By rewarding the Taleban for their acts of terrorism could set a very bad precedent.
If the situation were with government workers or military, then there are protocols that they follow to deal with those situations.