Hello - is there anybody there?

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying "To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war" or something like that. The question is, if you've got to the war-war stage, do you still try and talk to your enemy? World wars apart, history says that, unless you can be sure of achieving a clear military victory, the answer must be "yes". Most recent conflicts have in the end been settled by some sort of negotiation. The question has arisen again over the situation in Iraq and Afganistan - should we talk to Al-Qaeda (who or whatever that is)? Of course we should - I would be amazed (and rather worried) if we were not already doing so. It's clear that we are not going to be able to solve this problem militarily, so the only hope of some sort of finality is through negotiation. Get on with it!