DEVELOPMENTS

U.S. President Barack H. Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev, have signed a treaty to succeed START I. For clarification, START II was never implemented, and its successor agreement, START III, never got to the negotiation phase.  Following the signing, Mr. Obama attended a formal state dinner in Prague with 11 fellow NATO allies.

Essentially, the context for the New Start Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) negotiations took place at a meeting in Moscow in July of 2009 between President Obama and President Medvedev.  That meeting addressed several key issues. Most importantly, President Obama and his counterpart signed an agreement that established the groundwork for the New START Treaty, replacing START I when it expired on December 5th of last year.  According to an analysis made at the time by Peter Crail of the Arms Control Association, “Just setting a new limit would send a signal to the international community in general that the United States was getting serious about its disarmament commitments again.”

Originally the two world leaders met for the first time at the G-20 meeting in London in April 2009 and agreed to start a formal process of drafting the New START Treaty.  The meeting in Moscow was intended to smooth over any differences that each side had regarding complicated matters like missile defense and verification measures.

Many individuals familiar with the negotiations report that the Russians overextended their hand and assumed that President Obama would be more willing to compromise regarding the nuances of the treaty.  Mr. Obama erred by assuming that he would be able to use his oratorical skills to simply persuade the Russians to agree to his terms.  To overcome these deficits, Mr. Obama and Mr. Medvedev met or talked by phone a total of 14 times in an effort to reach some sort of agreement.  In the end what carried the day and eventually breached the logjam was simple perseverance on the parts of President Obama and President Medvedev.

The New START Treaty was signed in Prague on April 8, 2010 in the gilded halls of the Prague presidential castle.

DEVELOPMENTS

As a direct result of the 30,000 American troop surge in Afghanistan, coalition troops are attempting to capture the Afghan town of Marja, located in the Helmut Province. In the operation that was launched at the beginning of February, thousands of American, Afghan and British soldiers began their assault on the area. Arriving in mine resistant vehicles and by helicopters the assault has largely appeared to be effective.

Add to this development the recent capture of several high ranking Taliban commanders in Pakistan by a joint mission of American and Pakistani intelligence agencies, the progress in Afghanistan towards nullifying the Taliban or rendering their presence a nuisance is possible and illustrates that progress is being made in the nearly decade long struggle.

The American effort in Marja is also significant because instead of focusing on a purely military victory, i.e. killing all remaining Taliban fighters and moving on to the next mission, American and Afghan officials are focusing on rebuilding the governance in the area after years of Taliban rule. To insure that this occurs, a significant number of American and Afghan soldiers will remain in the area to insure that the Taliban are unable to return to establish a foothold in the area again. In order to decrease the chance that corrupt Afghans will assume the reins of power in Marja and the region, the United States has begun flying in Afghan police officers and administrative officials from outside of the area. These officials and officers from the North and elsewhere in the country are perceived to be less corrupt than those from the Helmut Province or Taliban areas. Referencing these government officials, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal had this to say, “We’ve got a government in a box, ready to roll in.”