STATEMENT BY THE HONORABLE CYRUS R. VANCE SECRETARY OF STATE BEFORE THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000706830003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 4, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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DE!'ITMENT 9 OF STATE
STATEMENT BY
THE HONORABLE CYRUS R. VANCE
SECRETARY OF STATE
BEFORE THE
CHICAGO COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
Chicago, Illinois
March 3, 1980
I am delighted to be here.
The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations has a proud
tradition as a forum where major world issues can be
.explored and discussed. For nearly 60 years, this organi-
zation has been a center of thought, education and reasoned
debate on America's course in the world.
I want to speak with you today about that course.
For as much as at any time in recent years, it is essential
that our people be clear about our nation's goals and about
the actions we are prepared to take in their pursuit.
As long as Americans remain in captivity in Iran,
their safe release is uppermost in all our minds. The
situation is now at a delicate and difficult stage. It
would not be proper for me to comment on that situation
in detail today.
Let me simply say that our objective is to bring the
present crisis to an early end. We expect the work of the
Commission to contribute to that objective. Our hostages
must be released and safely returned to the United States.
At the same time, we hope for an independent and secure Iran
and have no desire to interfere in its internal affairs.
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Today, I want to speak with you about another
serious challenge we face: Soviet aggression against
Afghanistan and the actions we have taken in response.
Specifically, I want to discuss the purposes that
underlie our actions -- and how they relate to the long-
term goals of American foreign policy.
Let me begin by underscoring what is at stake.
Because of our commitment to the principles of national
independence, territorial integrity, and human rights,
we cannot turn our backs when national boundaries are
violated... when the independence of another nation is
destroyed... when the popular will is suppressed through
brute military force.
What is at stake first in Afghanistan is the freedom
of a nation and of a people.
We are concerned as well with the broader threat that
Soviet actions pose to the region of Southwest Asia and
the Persian Gulf.
We now depend upon this area of the world for roughly
25 percent of our annual imports of oil.
Our allies and others -- developing nations as well
as industrial -- are even more dependent on oil from this
region. Approximately two-thirds of Western Europe's
oil imports and three-fourths of Japan's, come from the
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Persian Gulf. And we must remember that our own economic
health is intimately tied to theirs.
Our stake in the region, however, goes beyond oil,
beyond economics.
Peace and stability in the region are critical to the
future of our friends there. The strength and skill we
show in supporting their independence will demonstrate
to them and to others the constancy of our purpose.
This is important to the character of our alliances;
to our ties to friendly nations in every region of the
world; and to the future of our relations with the Soviet
Union.
So it is entirely accurate to say that the vital
interests of the United States -- in fact, of much of the
world -- are involved in this region. An attempt by any
outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region
would be an assault on these vital interests. As the
President has said, "It would be repelled by any means
necessary, including military force."
Not even the most penetrating analysis can determine
with certainty Soviet intentions in the region -- whether
their motives in Afghanistan are limited or part of a
larger strategy. The fact is that tens of thousands
of Soviet troops are in Afghanistan. The fact is that
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Soviet actions have created a potential threat to the
security of nations in the region and to the world's free
access to vital resources and shipping routes.
To respond firmly to the potential threat is not to
be apocalyptic; it is simply to be prudent.
In such a situation, our own people, our allies --
and the leaders of the Soviet Union -- must understand
not only what the United States is doing in this crisis
-- but why.
A few days ago, I went to Europe at the President's
request to consult with a number of our allies about the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. We discussed our common
interests and our common responsibilities.
I explained how America's actions support five key
objectives. Today I want to outline them briefly for
you -- and for the larger audience beyond this room.
Our first purpose is to impose a heavy price for this
aggression -- because of our abhorrence of what is being
done to the Afghan people and to help deter similar actions
elsewhere. The Soviet leadership must understand that
the international reaction to aggression will be swift
and firm.
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The steps we have taken -- on grain, on technology,
on the Olympics, on fisheries, and in other areas --
convey our determination in the clearest terms.
These measures do not stand alone. For the Soviets
are facing staunch, broadly-based Afghan resistance.
And they have been condemned by the overwhelming majority
of nations in the world.
The measures we have taken involve sacrifice -- for
our farmers and our businessmen, our athletes, our scientists
-- indeed, for all of us.
But the American people are prepared to make sacrifices
for the peace we cherish.
The steps we have taken are also designed to move
us towards our second goal: the withdrawal of all Soviet
military forces from Afghanistan.
Let me affirm today that the sanctions we have
undertaken in response to the Soviet invasion will remain
in force until all Soviet troops are withdrawn from
Afghanistan.
Let me be equally clear that when those actions cease
-- when Soviet troops are fully withdrawn from Afghanistan our intention is to remove the sanctions we have imposed
since the invasion of that nation.
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To encourage that withdrawal, we are also ready, as
the President has said, to support efforts by the inter-
national community to restore a neutral, non-aligned
Afghan government that would be responsive to the wishes
of the Afghan people. With the prompt withdrawal of
Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the United States would be
willing to join with Afghanistan's neighbors in a guarantee
of Afghanistan's true neutrality and of non-interference
in its internal affairs.
Such a political settlement would put an end to
brutality and bloodshed in Afghanistan. It would threaten
the interests of no nation; it would serve the interests
of all.
But let me be frank: There are no signs at this time
of a Soviet withdrawal. If anything, current signs point
to the contrary, the Soviet build-up continues and permanent
facilities are being constructed.
This makes our third objective all the more important.
While imposing penalties for aggression for as long as
necessary, it is deeply in the interests of the United
States and our allies to manage East-West relations in
ways that preserve their essential framework.
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Our relations with the Soviet Union have been and will
be essentially competitive. Our fundamental values differ.
Our interests frequently diverge. We will promote our
interests and our values, and we will oppose aggression.
But our competition must be bounded by restraint and
by sensitivity to each other's vital interests. For such
a relationship between the two superpowers is central
to peace.
We seek no return of the Cold War, of the indiscriminate
confrontation of earlier times.
We will continue to pursue our national interest in
balanced and verifiable arms control agreements -- in the
SALT process, on conventional and theater nuclear forces
in Europe, on banning tests of nuclear weapons, and in
other areas. Specifically, the offer to negotiate an
agreement on limiting theater nuclear forces in Europe
remains on the table. The Soviet Union should pursue it
with us.
Our nation has benefited from the arms control agreements
we have achieved. In 1963, we halted poisonous nuclear
weapons tests in the atmosphere. The SALT I, Interim
Agreement froze the number of offensive strategic missiles
when the Soviets were building up in this area and we
were not. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty headed off
a potentially costly and destabilizing arms race in these
defensive weapons.
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The SALT II Treaty we have negotiated also serves
America's security interests. It would restrain Soviet
strategic programs through 1985. It would limit the
future threats we will face, and thus make our own defense
planning more certain. It would preserve our ability
to monitor Soviet strategic developments. And it would
permit our own modernization efforts to proceed.
SALT II is not a carrot. It is not a stick. It
stands on its own merits as an integral part of our national
security policy.
It is especially important during a time of increased
tension between the two superpowers.
We remain deeply committed to ratification of the
treaty. It is not in our interest to forego its security
advantages.
Nor is it in our interest, during a period of heightened
tensions, to dismantle the framework of East-West
relations that has been built over more than two decades.
To help preserve this framework, and because we adhere
to international law, we are not abrogating formal agree-
ments with the Soviet Union.
We are pursuing preparations for the next Review
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to be
held this year in Madrid.
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We will continue our policy of building stronger
relations with the nations of Eastern Europe.
And we remain prepared to build a more stable
relationship with the Soviet Union when circumstances
permit.
Our fourth objective is to work with the nations of
Southwest Asia -- and with others -- to strengthen the
security, stability, and independence of the region.
We firmly believe that the nations of the region
should control their own destinies. Most emphatically,
we believe that the resources of the region belong to its
nations and peoples. Their independence poses no threat
to us. The threat would lie in the loss of their
independence.
We are strengthening our ability to respond -- swiftly
and effectively -- if our vital interests are assaulted.
We have increased our naval presence in the Indian Ocean.
We have held positive discussions with nations in the
area on US access to air and naval facilities.
Our own military preparedness, however, is only one
element of our strategy in the region. Creating a frame-
work for security cooperation in the region must, of its
essence, be a cooperative undertaking.
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This means that we will work with the nations of the
region to help strengthen their ability to defend their
independence and enhance their political and economic
stability.
It means that we will continue to work with others
toward peaceful resolutions of the tensions between nations
in the region -- most importantly, between Israel and her
Arab neighbors.
And it means that we will work to improve our relations
with nations throughout the area, wherever there is a
basis of shared interests. The US welcomes the growing
vitality of the Islamic world and sees in it a creative
contribution to a world based on diversity and self-
reliance.
Our fifth goal must be to draw from these events a
renewed commitment to building the basic military and
economic strength of America.
Our nation has initiated the most comprehensive
modernization of our defense forces in over a decade.
We will proceed expeditiously with the programs underway
-- to modernize each leg of our strategic forces, to
implement NATO's decision last December on our theater
nuclear weapons in Europe, and to upgrade our conventional
forces.
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Afghanistan brings the importance of those long-term
defense investments into sharp focus -- and it gives new
focus to the need to increase our military mobility.
These programs will require increased defense budgets
-- this year and for the foreseeable future. We must
be clear in our determination to meet the requirements
of safety and security for our nation and our allies.
Events in Southwest Asia must also strengthen our
determination to forestall a future energy disaster.
For, quite simply, that is what we could face.
We should need no reminder of the costs -- and risks of our energy dependence.
It fuels our inflation. It strains the dollar. It
drains our balance of payments. It increases our vulner-
ability.
The message is clear. Energy policy is central to
our foreign policy. We cannot, over the long run, be
independent, strong and free and at the same time remain
heavily dependent on foreign energy.
We have made some progress in the past few years.
Our overall oil consumption was down in 1979. So was
gasoline consumption. Under the President's leadership,
we have taken important steps toward greater energy
security.
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But, as the President has said, far more needs to
be done.
Gaining control over our energy future is an essential
part of a prudent response to recent events in Southwest
Asia.
Each of these objectives -- to gain the withdrawal
of all Soviet forces from Afghanistan, to deter further
Soviet aggression, to manage sensibly US-Soviet relations
in a period of heightened tensions, to help strengthen
the nations in the region and to build America's strength
-- each serves the interests not only of America, but of
all nations which have a stake in world peace and stability.
And they involve the efforts of others as well as ourselves.
As we move ahead together, our allies need to know
that the United States will remain strong. And we will.
They need to know that we are committed to the common
defense. We are and we will remain so.
They need to know, at the same time, that the United
States, for its part, would welcome a more stable relation-
ship with the Soviet Union. And we would.
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We are not asking our allies to dismantle the
framework of East-West relations. We do ask that they take
measures designed to bring about the withdrawal of Soviet
forces from Afghanistan, and to deter the Soviets from
new adventures that will produce new crises.
Detente cannot be divorced from deterrence. To
oppose aggression now is to promote peace in the future---
to foster the conditions for progress in East-West relations.
To assume that we can obtain the benefits of detente while
ignoring the need for deterrence would be shortsighted and
dangerous. I am convinced that we will not do so.
As we work with other nations, we also seek the
understanding and support of the American people behind the
objectives I have described.
America's strength lies not only in our weapons
and our laboratories, our factories and our farms; it
is rooted in the determination and good sense of our
people when they are united in a common purpose.
For the shape of our future depends on our will and
our wisdom -- the will to respond to aggression with
renewed national strength ... and the wisdom to find, in our
response to immmediate crisis, a new national unity behind
our foreign policy for the future.
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That leads me to my final point.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has had a definite
impact on our foreign policy -- on US-Soviet relations and
the common agenda with our allies. But it should not... it
will not... turn us away from the fundamental goals our
nation has been pursuing in the world. They remain deeply
in our national interest.
-- It is in our national interest to lend America's
full support to the negotiation of peaceful solutions to
regional tensions.
Festering regional disputes fuel local arms races
that drain resources from pressing human needs. They
present opportunities for foreign intervention and
exploitation. And they can erupt into open conflicts
that bring the threat of wider wars.
Precisely because the world has become a more dangerous
place in recent months, we will continue to work to defuse
its dangers.
-- It is in our national interest to continue to
strengthen our traditional alliances, to open new relation-
ships -- as we have with China -- and to stay on course
in building cooperative relations with the developing
world.
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The best way to thwart Soviet interference in the Third
World is to pursue our own affirmative policy there -- one
that addresses the real interests we share in the freedom
of developing nations... freedom from the dominance of out-
side powers, from the bitterness of racial injustice,
from the waste of regional conflict, from the burdens
of poverty.
That strategy does not mean that we should hide our
differences with developing countries. But we can work
together most effectively on issues of critical importance
to us when they know we share their goals of political
independence and economic justice.
This approach builds on our strengths -- for it is
most often to the West that these nations first turn for
assistance in meeting their economic and security concerns.
And this approach is working. There are serious trouble
spots. But the fact is that our relations with most of
the nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America are stronger
today than they have been in years.
-- And finally, it is not only in our national character,
but deeply in our national interest, to translate our
dedication to freedom into practical support for human
liberty in other nations.
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Nations that respect the rights of their citizens,
that are open to the expression and accommodation of con-
flicting views and interests, are in a stronger position
to maintain their national balance and their national
independence.
We are well aware that seething frustrations can
explode into radicalism and violence which imperil America's
interests. But it remains true that more often today,
change is taking place peacefully -- and it is leading
toward human freedom.
It is in our interest to be part of that tide. And
it is in our interest to defend human rights when they
are threatened.
Indeed, a central issue raised for all the world by
Soviet actions in Afghanistan is one of human rights:
-- the right to determine one's own government;
-- the right to religious liberty;
-- the right to live in peace.
We will continue to strive, not to impose our own
institutions, but to help others give expression in their
own ways, to the irrepressible human right to be free.
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Ultimately, the purpose -- and the measure -- of our
foreign policy is its impact on the lives of our people
-- and others.
For over 200 years the United States has been on the
side of freedom and progress. While we have known the
world is a dangerous place, requiring our strength and
our vigilance, we have also known that it need not be a
hostile one. As the human condition is improved -- as
people everywhere find better and more secure lives --
the world becomes a safer place for America.
It is this belief that has marked the American
character throughout the life of our Republic.
It remains our faith today.
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