Efraim Halevy: Israel Should Be Strong Like America, Talk To Its Enemies

Efraim Halevy, the former director of Israel's Mossad (intelligence) agency and former head of Israel's National Security Council, called on Israel to learn from America's new approach in Afghanistan and engage with its own enemies.   

Halevy wrote in Yediot Acharonoth today,

At this time, a special American team is completing an extraordinary journey in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Accompanied by a group of journalists from America's leading newspapers, President Obama's special envoy Richard Holbrooke and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen held talks with top government officials in both countries. At the same time, they also held special meetings with enemy commanders - the Taliban - in the presence of the journalists. These meetings were attended, among others, by a senior Taliban fighter who spent years in the Guantanamo detention camp.

The extraordinary move undertaken by Holbrooke and Mullen in their last tour illustrates one of the most interesting and challenging hallmarks of the new administration. While military forces on the ground are preparing for a spring offensive characterized as "decisive," those who lead the campaign are seeking diplomatic alternatives while seriously looking into agreements with various enemy camps and groups. The Americans are not concerned that the enemy will interpret such moves as a sign of weakness - the opposite is true.

And so, a superpower that has great confidence in itself and its power, and which demonstrates its strength in daily operations on the battlefield, is seriously looking into innovative and dramatic options that will improve its position vis-à-vis the most radical enemy members, while openly declaring its moves via its most senior journalists.

The more we are able to invest candid and serious efforts in developing creative and credible alternatives to the main issues on our agenda, the greater the chances that we shall find in the US a partner to bold diplomatic moves - both when it comes to the essence and to the modus operandi.

If we fail to do it ourselves, we should not be complaining if Washington does it before us, and without us.