Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations among states through officially-recognized representatives for conduct of international relations through professional diplomats with regards to issues of treaties, trade, peace and war, economics and culture. It is an essential tool in world affairs that encourages and facilitates the states in resolving their conflicts through negotiations rather than other, harsher means. The history of this science or art whatever you deem it to be, dates back to beginning of the political state. Since the nature, size and composition of the early state varied a lot, so did the system of relations between them. Usually relations were simple and personal but in time they became more and more complex as the political entities became better organized. Old world diplomacy relied exclusively on the exchange of ambassador or minister charged by their respective government with the twin task of acting both as informant and intermediaries. This shows that only bilateral diplomacy was practiced between states but with the change in world of politics, the diplomacy changed its dimensions too. The 21st century started with a changed international political system. It started with the end of cold war and with the rise of a new system of uni-polarity. And due to this changed world order, the states started to find new ways to further their interests. This gave rise to many new forms of diplomacy. Thus the 21st century diplomacy started out with ever new, ever changing forms. Present day diplomacy gives more importance to factors that were not even considered a part of diplomacy and international relations previously. They include the 'non-state actors that are now an important part of the world affairs. The modern day diplomacy is now mostly through propaganda. Propaganda is used to mould the public opinion for achieving the aim of having a good international image even if the ultimate objectives may not be entirely acceptable. A good example of this is the role of UN in the Iraq war which started on 20 March 2003. Prior to the war, the governments of US and U.K claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that there was an imminent threat from it to their security as well as to that of other member states. After UNs invasion in Iraq, the UN weapons inspectors found no evidence of WMD. -WAJIHA RASUL, Lahore, June 16.