Husain Haqqani Quotes
Talks are not the same thing as agreements.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, Director of the Boston University Center for International Relations, Response to Question, The Atlantic Council, June 12, 2008
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
DeKlerk had just become president of South Africa which was enmeshed in a brutal system of apartheid—racial separation with the 10% white population controlling the 90% black majority. The black political parties were illegal and net even recognized and there was no negotiation at all. The country was a world pariah, boycotted by many in the world including much of the Untied States. When De Klerk became president no one had any idea that he would make such a radical break with the past. However, he announced the lifting of the ban on the Black political parties, and the release of Nelson Mandela who had served 26 years in prison, and then made this famous statement which led to the modern state of South Africa. DeKlerk and Mandela shared the Nobel peace prize for their remarkable achievement.
Often diplomats and negotiators, coming from different cultures and different counties, and having different points of view and previous experiences, don't even have the same view of that they are there for, what is the object of their negotiations, what the problem or problems are. Sullivan observes that this often takes more time than the actual negotiations.
Husain Haqqani is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States.
