PNN – What is the meaning of the De-confliction Cell in the Qatar-Pakistan statement and how is it different from the committee?
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, What is the meaning of the De-confliction Cell in the Qatar-Pakistan statement? How is it different from the committee?
Note: This text does not discuss whether the formation of this Cell is a good move or not. Rather, it explains its meaning.
▪ The statement by Qatar and Pakistan as mediators for the negotiations between Iran and the US regarding the Swiss talks mentions a De-confliction Cell. The term “Cell”, whose initial literal translation is “cell” and is actually a less familiar term for political actions in Iran, has raised questions about what this Cell is basically? And how is it different from a committee or commission or working group, etc., which are more familiar terms to the audience?
▪ The Qatar statement mentions three institutions as a hierarchy:
1- High Level Committee
High Level Committee
As a political and decision-making committee
2- Working Groups
Specialized working groups (nuclear, sanctions, etc.)
3- De-confliction Cell
▪In diplomatic and military literature, the word Cell should not be translated literally as “cell”. In such texts, it is usually used to mean “core”, “operations room”, “coordination center”, “joint unit” and similar expressions.
▪Therefore, the phrase: De-confliction Cell is usually taken to mean a coordination center for conflict prevention or a de-confliction operations room.
▪But what is the difference between a Cell and a Committee?
A committee is a decision-making or policy-making body that has a political or managerial level, holds periodic meetings, makes decisions, sets policies, and its members are usually senior officials.
For example, the same statement mentions a High Level Committee, a high-ranking committee that monitors political negotiations.
▪However, the Cell (core or operations center) is usually an executive and operational structure whose job is not to make major decisions, but rather to exchange information and coordinate daily, and is usually composed of officers, experts, and liaisons whose goal is to manage the crisis.
▪For example, in Syria, the US and Russia had a De-confliction Cell for years, whose task was to prevent the two sides’ fighter jets from colliding and to inform about operations.