In recognition of the threat which the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan posed
to Western interests in both Europe and Southwest Asia, NATO foreign and
defense ministers have expressed full support for U.S. efforts to develop a
capability to respond to a contingency in Southwest Asia and have approved
an extensive program to help fill the gap which could be created by the
diversion of U.S. forces to that region.
The U.S. has not been alone in seeking to maintain stability in the
Southwest Asia area and insure access to the needed resources there. The
European nations with the capability to do so are improving their own
forces in the region and providing greater economic and political support
to the residents of the area. In the face of the potential danger posed by
the Iran-Iraq conflict, we have developed coordination among the Western
forces in the area of the Persian Gulf in order to be able to safeguard
passage in that essential waterway.
Concerning developments in and around Poland the allies have achieved the
highest level of cohesion and unity of purpose in making clear the effects
on future East-West relations of a precipitous Soviet act there.
The alliance has continued to build on the progress of the past three years
in improving its conventional forces through the Long-Term Defense Program.
Though economic conditions throughout Europe today are making its
achievement difficult, the yearly real increase of 3 percent in defense
spending remains a goal actively sought by the alliance.
The NATO alliance also has moved forward during the past year with the
implementation of its historic December 1979 decision to modernize its
Theater Nuclear Force capabilities through deployment of improved Pershing
ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe. Our
allies continue to cooperate actively with us in this important joint
endeavor, whose purpose is to demonstrate convincingly to the Soviet Union
the potential costs of a nuclear conflict in Europe. At the same time, we
offered convincing evidence of our commitment to arms control in Europe by
initiating preliminary consultations with the Soviet Union in Geneva on the
subject of negotiated limits on long-range theater nuclear forces. Also,
during 1980 we initiated and carried out a withdrawal from our nuclear
weapons stockpile in Europe of 1,000 nuclear warheads. This successful
drawdown in our nuclear stockpile was a further tangible demonstration of
our commitment to the updating of our existing theater nuclear forces in
Europe.
In the NATO area, we continued to work closely with other countries in
providing resources to help Turkey regain economic health. We regretted
that massive political and internal security problems led the Turkish
military to take over the government on September 12. The new Turkish
authorities are making some progress in resolving those problems, and they
have pledged an early return to civilian government. The tradition of the
Turkish military gives us cause to take that pledge seriously. We welcomed
the reestablishment of Greece's links to the integrated military command
structure of the Atlantic Alliance--a move which we had strongly
encouraged--as a major step toward strengthening NATO's vital southern
flank at a time of international crisis and tension in adjacent areas.
Greek reintegration exemplifies the importance which the allies place on
cooperating in the common defense and shows that the allies can make the
difficult decisions necessary to insure their continued security. We also
welcomed the resumption of the intercommunal talks on Cyprus.