What the UN Counter-Terrorism Chief Has to Say About Peacebuilding and Afghanistan

The role of the Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team is to advise the Security Council on the threat from Al-Qaida, the Taliban, their affiliates and associates, and to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the sanctions regime imposed by the Council against them. The Team is appointed by the United Nations Secretary General, at the request of the Security Council, and Richard Barrett serves as Coordinator. We had the chance to ask Mr. Barrett a few questions, ranging from peacebuilding in Afghanistan, UN counter-terrorism work, and more.

Mr. Barrett is also a member of the Task Force established by the UN Secretary General to promote implementation of the Global Strategy to Counter Terrorism adopted by the General Assembly in September 2006. He is co-chair of two working groups, one that looks at what leads people to terrorism and one that examines the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes.

Antony Adolf (Change.org): Just in the past few weeks, there seems to be a shift taking place from military to peacemaking action on the part of the Afghan and British government, and less so on the part of the United States. How will legitimizing the Taliban affect your work and that of the UN in Afghanistan?

Richard Barrett: The problems of Afghanistan will not be solved by military force. Until the ratio of military action to political action shifts significantly toward the latter, the Afghan people will be condemned to a continuing erosion of their traditions, laws and customs with less and less possibility of
revival.

Successful peacemaking does not depend only on an agreement with the Taliban, but also with all the other constituent parts of Afghan society, some of which are strongly opposed to the Taliban. This means that while NATO forces may have a role to play, the future lies more with the Afghans themselves to debate and agree. One of the key factors impeding any solution is the general lack of public confidence in the ability of the central government to supply justice and good governance.

As well as providing humanitarian assistance, the UN has a central role in upholding and reinforcing the fundamental values on which any peaceful society should be based, and in helping to train officials in understanding the importance of fundamental rights for stability and security. The [UN's] 1267 regime offers an international check on any reintegration of the Taliban and reconciliation with their leaders to ensure that there is no renewed threat to international peace and security as a result.

Antony Adolf: Can you situate how your analytical support and sanctions implementation monitoring, respectively, fit within the UN and national counter-terrorism work as a whole, as well as in relation to key academic and/or policy formation fields you contribute to?

Richard Barrett: Any effective contribution on counter-terrorism, whether at the national or international level, depends on a proper understanding of what lies behind and motivates people to commit this sort of violence. Sanctions, like any other effective measure, must be properly targeted and properly designed. Monitoring their impact and understanding it allows for their improvement. The international response to terrorism needs input from national bodies that are closer to the problem and from academics who may have insights on the reasons for the phenomenon.

Antony Adolf: What would you say to aspiring counter-terrorism agents in these regards?

Richard Barrett: Throughout my professional life I have focused on practical solutions to problems rather than theoretical ones. This is of particular importance in counter-terrorism where a great deal is talked about and done in the interest of countering terrorism, but often with too little grounding in a factual analysis of the problem.

Given the cost and inconvenience to the general public of counter-terrorist measures, it is particularly important to gauge their impact on the problems they seek to address, and to provide some sort of cost benefit analysis, however difficult that may be.

Antony Adolf: Two of your focus areas as a member of the UN’s Global Strategy to Counter Terrorism are the motives of terrorists and the use of the Internet. Can you tell us what you have found out about each, and where they may overlap?

Richard Barrett: The motives of individual terrorists vary considerably. The skill of terrorist recruiters lies in their ability to persuade aggrieved people that the only way to address their grievance is through violence. This can not so easily be done over the Internet, though there are examples. The Internet is a good medium through which to get people shocked or angry, but recruitment to active terrorism usually requires personal contact.

Antony Adolf: How does your Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team go about quantifying its results in different areas? Compared to more qualitative or “soft” data, how do these results shape the policies that are then put in place -- for instance in regards to sanctions, without skewing evaluations of their implementation?

Richard Barrett: Complaints about the sanctions from targeted individuals may be one measure, the lack of finance in targeted groups is another. But there is also an important symbolic value in having a system whereby the international community at the very highest level can express its condemnation of specific individual groups and entities that are found to be supporting terrorism.

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Richard Barrett’s job takes him to all parts of the world and has put him in touch with a wide variety of officials and others active in the field of counter-terrorism. He has been particularly interested in working with national governments to examine the precise factors which lead individuals to join terrorist groups and how to counter them.

Before taking up his present position he worked with the British government both in London and abroad, serving with the Security Service, the Foreign Office and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). He has had postings to Canada, Jordan, Turkey and to the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations in New York.

He has conducted live and recorded interviews on television and radio, including with Al Arabiya, BBC, CBC, CNN, NBC and many local stations.

He has a master's degree from Oxford University in history and Italian literature.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein