Rex Tillerson and the magic clock: The importance of Diplomatic Meeting Sites

The US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has been on a romp around Asia this week, discussing US foreign policy with various leaders, including Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.  In the aftermath of the event both the US Embassy in Afghanistan and President Ghani issued press releases about the meeting. Both seemed to tick off everything on the diplomatic summit press release checklist; words like ‘peace’ and ‘prosperity’: a nice photo featuring a flag and two men sat way too far apart. However, questions were asked once the Afghan and US photos were compared.

 

US photo on the left, Afghan on the right

Spot it? In the Afghan photo the clock and fire alarm above Tillerson and Ghani’s heads has been photoshopped out. It was showing ‘Zulu time’, the Coordinated Universal Time (GMT to you and me) used by the US army, suggesting the meeting did not take place in Kabul, the Afghan Capital, as both sides originally claimed, but rather at a US military base. Once the ruse was exposed the State Department was quick to concede that Tillerson and Ghani had actually met at Bagram Airbase, 40km north of Kabul. Why did they lie? Does Ghani harbour a secret (but rational) fear of clocks?

Look at that bastard, counting down the seconds you have left to live!

Conversely, I believe it was due to the symbolism associated with diplomatic meeting sites. For example, in 1986 Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, proposed that he should meet US President Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, as it lay halfway between the USSR and the US. The site represented equality between the two superpowers, as neither side was on their home turf, so in control. Furthermore, a willingness to travel reveals an acceptance of compromise, which is necessary for constructive diplomatic agreements.

The difficulty of selecting a diplomatic meeting place is not new. Like Gorbachev and Reagan, when Robert the Pious of France and Emperor Henry II wanted to meet in 1023 they both travelled to the summit, which took place on the River Meuse, the border between their realms. Whilst the location clearly symbolised their equality and willingness to cooperate, it presented another problem. Ralph Glaber records how neither wanted to cross the river, as whoever did would look inferior. Meeting in boats in the river was suggested, but in the end they maintained their equality by each crossing on alternative days. The point is meeting places are never chosen at random or simply due to practicality. Rather, they are symbolic, providing information on the participants’ status and approach to one another.

Had Tillerson and Ghani’s meeting taken place in Kabul this would have suggested Kabul is safe. It is common for members of foreign governments to be entertained in the host nation’s capital. For instance, last year (2016) Barack Obama visited London, where he met Prince George, stopped in at Shakespeare’s Globe and discussed policy with David Cameron at Downing Street (odds on Donald Trump’s upcoming visit being so dignified?).

 

 To be honest it will hinge on how into WWE the Queen is

Sadly, Kabul remains incredibly unsafe. 56 people died in a gun and suicide bomb attack on one of the city’s Mosques last week. Likewise, in September US Secretary of Defence James Mattis was the target of a Taliban rocket attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. However, by showing the US Secretary of State within the city Ghani is implying that things are not as unsafe and unstable as these attacks suggest. The US is also keen to depict a safe Afghanistan to vindicate its sixteen year war with Taliban forces. Conversely, a meeting in a secure military base gives the complete opposite impression.

Additionally, meeting at Bagram Airbase reminds Americans that the war is not over. Whilst Trump was critical of Obama’s continuation of the war, he has since changed his mind. 

Treasure? You've got to find the big 'X' Donald! 

In August he declared there would be no withdrawal, but instead the US would ‘fight to win’. This was met with considerable domestic opposition. The Washington Examiner called his approach ‘not only unnecessary but a waste of resources and a misunderstanding of the problem at hand’, whilst The Atlantic called it the sort of speech ‘which the pre-presidential Trump ridiculed for having no end point or concept of victory’. Hearing that Tillerson was at Bagram would have reminded Americans that not only has US-policy failed to bring peace to Afghanistan, but that it is still failing. Despite their wishes, US airbases are still there and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

Analysing attempts to distort Ghani and Tillerson’s summit by considering what different meeting places symbolise reveals the distance between US/Afghan government aims and reality in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, no end to the conflict is in sight. Perhaps there is one crumb of comfort. Despite his belief that he is different to other leaders, Donald Trump and his administration have to contend with diplomatic issues that have plague rulers for thousands of years.

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