PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
12 January 2009
Presidential Transition Offers Opportunity to Build Bridges
Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea top challenges for incoming administration
Washington — Even a 24-hour news cycle cannot satisfy consumer demand for current information about the new Obama administration’s growing list of foreign policy priorities.
So many problems and so little time is a recurrent theme for panelists who are speaking in the U.S. capital and beyond. More than 1,400 academics, reporters and government and military officials from around the world gathered to consider that list of problems at a January 8 conference sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), entitled “Passing the Baton: Foreign Policy Challenges and Opportunities Face the New Administration.”
The Bush administration’s outgoing special envoy on nuclear nonproliferation, Robert Joseph, told the gathering that it is important to support President-elect Barack Obama as he seeks to address a myriad of national security threats.
The ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will remain center stage for the new president, as will the actions of neighboring governments in Pakistan and Iran. Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said U.S. foreign policy concerns are interrelated in these four countries, but each requires a distinct approach and specific policy.
The importance of this region to the new administration was reflected in Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s trip there January 9–11. Obama and Biden have pledged to revitalize Afghanistan’s economic development with additional resources and to boost aid to Pakistan.
The pressing issue of securing North Korea’s cooperation to disarm its nuclear program in a way that satisfies the verification concerns of Japan, China, Russia, the United States and South Korea was discussed at the conference.
Participants also said Obama will need to address a demand to slow global climate change. This subject ties into two other pressing, related issues: food security and the need for help around the world in response to a recent increase in natural disasters.
Wendy Sherman, who will soon return to the State Department for a second period of service as counselor, said the incoming administration will have to work hard on a complex collection of security issues because “the baton” that conference participants discussed that will pass from Bush to Obama on January 20 is hardly “a magic wand.”
REGIONAL ISSUES WILL DOMINATE
There are many experts ready to roll up their sleeves, and their advice has been pouring in on every conceivable global issue for every region of the world. Former State Department policy adviser Suzanne Maloney said there is a chance for a change in the nature of U.S.-Iranian relations after a series of missed opportunities. She said Iran could well decide to engage in a selective, constructive dialogue with the United States, especially on the narrow subject of Afghanistan.
William Luers, who is president of the United Nations Association of the USA, said it is time to set a new tone with Iran, and he advocated talking directly with midlevel Iranian officials and opening a dialogue, as the United States did with China during the Nixon era. Face-saving gestures will go far to smooth the way for future contacts, Maloney said.
General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command, talked at length about the way ahead in Afghanistan. Nothing has been easy there, he said, warning that progress in 2009 and beyond will demand a comprehensive, regional approach that includes Pakistan.
It will take time to build government capacity to provide services throughout Afghanistan’s provinces, he said, and to reduce corruption and develop the rule of law.
Petraeus said the coalition has to serve as Afghanistan’s partner and not take actions that would lead it to be perceived as an occupying force. The number of Afghan civilian casualties must be reduced, he said, because without that the Taliban will have an effective recruiting tool.
The issue of food security in Afghanistan will require urgent attention, according to Petraeus. He advocated offering subsidies to Afghan farmers who grow priority crops. (See new USIP report “The Future of Afghanistan.”)
ISSUES THAT MAY OFFER SWIFTER PROGRESS
Turning from a regional to a thematic focus, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Robert Orr predicted that 2009 could be “the year of climate change” as the result of an alignment of mutual interests.
Anne-Marie Slaughter, the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, said the United States must provide leadership on climate change and nonproliferation or nothing of substance will happen. At the same time, she said that strategic leadership means looking for strong partners and letting other countries take the lead when it makes sense. By sharing burdens, she said, the United States “invites cooperation,” leading to more successful international engagement.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the Obama administration can do two things immediately to change the international equation quickly and dramatically. He said the new president should close down the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and ask the U.S. Senate to ratify the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention. The treaty establishes rights and responsibilities for nations’ use of the world’s oceans and sets guidelines for managing marine resources. (See Law of the Sea Convention Enjoys Broad U.S. Support.
Republican leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee Senator Richard Lugar wrapped up the daylong conference by urging everyone to embrace the political transition. He described it as a time for both political healing and bridge building.
