TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS were brought into sharper focus and given a useful impetus at the annual summits of Nato, and the United States and the European Union in Lisbon over the weekend. A clearer perspective on Nato’s role in Afghanistan, an improved relationship with Russia, and a better understanding of EU-US interdependence in the world economy were highlighted, although it remains to be seen how effectively these issues are tackled over the next year. Good summit intentions are one thing, putting them into political practice is another.
That is particularly the case with Afghanistan. Nato is now committed to begin handing over its operations there to Afghan army leadership next year and to complete that process by withdrawing its troops in 2014. The summit endorsed the current US-led surge against the Taliban in the south of the country, expecting it to pave the way for this transformation. This was in spite of more and more vocal criticism of the strategy by President Hamid Karzai, who says it is killing too many innocent Afghans and inhibiting his efforts to organise a political dialogue with Taliban leaders. This tension at the heart of the Nato approach is reinforced by the growing reluctance of European governments to fight there and increased pressure from them for more political progress. The summit succeeded in putting these different approaches into a more coherent framework; but sooner or later the question of negotiating with the Taliban will have to be given political priority.
Russia is co-operating more with Nato on Afghanistan and at the UN on sanctions against Iran. This is part of a wider change that sees improved relations on nuclear weapons, co-operation on missile defence systems, and more systematic consultation on security. Nato’s new strategic concept reflects the change, concentrating on missile and cyber warfare, terrorism and piracy, and a renewed mandate for global missions.
President Barack Obama’s desire to improve US relations with Russia in the context of controlling or even eliminating nuclear weapons plays into this new relationship, as does the desire of major European states to take advantage of changing Russian attitudes. If the potential is to be delivered on, a lot more work is required, but the promise of improved European security makes this well worth the effort. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s participation in the Nato summit is a hopeful augury.
EU leaders stressed common values, interests and objectives with the US in Lisbon, which Mr Obama reciprocated. Their mutual emphasis on how the transatlantic relationship brings together 800 million people and about half the world’s annual economic activity is a salutary reminder that managing it well profoundly affects international welfare. That will require greater collective effort to increase economic growth and employment by ensuring macroeconomic surpluses and deficits are more balanced in the world economy. Global interdependence makes this a demanding but necessary task of summit diplomacy.