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at&t... your world... delivered. vo:have some type of proud to report thhealth coverage.ll-time and part-time associates but we won't be 100% satisfied until every american has quality affordable health coverage. save money. live better. walmart. >> this week in defense news with vago muradian. >> good morning and welcome to the show. will a new nuclear arms reduction deal between the united states and russia speed global disarmment efforts. and next in the u.s. offensive in afghanistan. but first africa is the new focus of the u.s. military. the bush administration launched the africa command last year to foster closer cooperation and stability across the continent, switching

from a traditionally rereactive approach to african crisis to a policy of engagement. but it's headquartered in germany, rather than africa, and it's a command structure with few operational units. instead it will draw people and equipment as needs arise. air power will be vital on the huge african continent and general ron ladnier is overseaing it. general, welcome to the show. i want to start out by asking how africacom is structured, and really given central function of the command is diplomatic more than military. >> i am surprised there hasn't been a lot more discussion about exactly that. u.s. africa command represents almost a departure from what we've seen with other regional commands. and what i mean is, government agencies have represents at

u.s. africa command, but they're not just liaison officers. they hold key positions. one of the deputies is an ambassador from the state department. usaid has key personnel that run important partss of africa command. so it's an despiting departure, and -- it's an exciting departure and the goal is to synchronize our efforts in support of what the state department wants to accomplish on the continent. >> and u.s. sorn command for example is -- southern command is also like that, where the deputy is from the state department. for the time being, you only have two sort of c 130s, that you control the 17th air force at this point. what are some of the other capabilitys that your air force needs, whether in terms of training aircraft, transport aircraft, strike aircraft, and even c4 isr, commanding control unmanned air vehicles. >> we have the spectrum of

specialties that we need to support whatever we're doing on the continent. now, we do have two aircraft that we brought forward, but we actually give great support from other commands, like u.s. transportation command, european command, where they will send aircraft to support whatever might be going on in the continent. for example, i know that you know the president just passed through there, and we use c17 from us transportation command and air mobility command to support that effort. when we work with militarys in other countries, we require the spectrum. it can be instructors, it can be maintenance personnel, air traffic controllers, so we really do need the entire spectrum of specialties that we reach in and borrow. >> well, going to that point about training, for example, and instruction, one of the things that was set up when the

command was announced is it will obviously have an operational role but also a very potent training role obviously that is a very important engagement tool. most of the focus has been on sort of the operational side of it. how soon before we see the command playing a prominent training role with regional air forces, at least as far as the 17th is concerned? >> we've already seen that. this fiscal year, we had somewhere around 40 to 50 events that we pursued, but for fiscal year 10, we're going to triple that number. so, we've already started ramping up, as we get more people on board. so great progress. and you know, our goal, i guess the best way to describe it is we want to send 10 people regularly, constantly, instead of having to send 10,000 people, because we waited too long to help a particular country keep a problem from

turning into a catastrophy, or some kind of crisis. >> that u.s. engagement, though, than viewed by some skepticism by some across the continent. sort of why is america interested so suddenly in africa. have you won over the local critics and how are you winning over the local critics? >> you know, i think that was a common misperception early in our command, and certainly with 17th air force, as well. i would not say that we've suddenly woken up one day and said, hey, there's a continent down there. maybe we should be involved. the truth is, all of these government agencies were already involved. the difference is, and this conversation has been gone on for some time, we felt like we could do better synchronizing our strategies as we went forward. and so, it is not a sudden realization that the continent

is there. it is a sudden realization that we could do better at engaging. >> at bringing all of those pieces together. right now, the headquarters obviously is going to stay in germany until 2011. why is it taking so long to find a home in africa where you can headquarter the command. obviously much closer to its geographic focus. >> you know, if you look at all the regional commands, there are only two that aren't headquartered within the united states. and that's european command and u.s. africa command. and i think that we started in germany more because, and this is my opinion, more because we sort of took a rib out of the side of european command to stand up africa command. >> in terms of the equipment and the people are going to be largely coming from ucom? >> initially, some of the first people to help stand up african command were from european command. and they were there, they had

buildings, so i think that was why we stood it up at germany. now, when you listen to general ward, he does not say that he wants to move his headquarters to the continent. in fact, when he talks to our ambassadors in the various embassies on the continent, they will say, hey, listen. put your people here in the embassy, and that will only enhance the partnership that we have. so that's what he is looking at doing. and i was just going to bring up, there are some minor exceptions. for example, as you probably know, the african union is steadily increasing its influence and its role on the continent. so we are establishing a liaison office, and we're talking just a few people that work in the area, so that we can improve that communication with the african union. >> one very quick question. what are some of the unique challenges in operating in africa?

>> it is first of all, huge. i just took a flight from cape town up to frank fort, 11 and a half hours. and i think most americans forget how big a continent it is. the second challenge is its infrastructure. they do not have an interstate system like we do. they have rail, bits mainly limit -- but it's mainly limited to the outlying areas and not the interior. really their best mode of transportation is air transportation. and even that is an area, i think, the air force in particular can help with. even that needs improvement. either the air fields, security, or enroute radar control and information like that. >> sir, thanks very much for joining us. we appreciated having you. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> next, looking beyond the latest arms control agreement. you are watching this week in defense news.

>> presidents barack obama and dimitri medvedev met this week in months mous could you. our next guest is the head of the united nations disarmment institute. she is in town this week from geneva. she will express orr hen views and not those of the united nations. what does this mean overall and does it help other disarmment efforts? >> it's a pretty modest deal. we're looking at cuts of about

25% to currently deployed weapons. it doesn't touch things in stockpiles or back in storage. so it's quite a modest step. on the other hand, it's a step. >> right. >> and there haven't been steps for a very long time. plus i think the tenor of the discussions was much different than discussions have been in the past. and so, that is a good thing. it does have impact. one of the key things is that it will be good for the nuclear non-proliferation treaty review conference in 2010. one of the big problems has been that the non-nuclear weapons states have been very, very concerned because the nuclear weapons states have been i can energy nuclear disarmment. so this will help show the bona fides of the nuclear weapons state in pursuing nuclear disarmment. >> and obviously it also increases the moral stature of washington and moscow to pressure north korea and iran. >> exactly. it's hard to say to other countries stop doing that when you are hoarding tons and tons

of nuclear weapons and won't give them up. >> going to the point of trying to control states that have been very, very dedicated, despite enormous international pressure to stopping their nuclear programs, north korea and iran come to mind, what is the recipe for success in dealing with nations that have been so historically intransigent? >> if i knew that i'd probably win the nobel peace prize. >> you can start working on it. >> it's different for each country. i don't think you can lump iran and north korea together. iran in particular is looking at regional goals, having to do with its neighbors, having to do with wanting to be a premier power in the region. they see a nuclear weapon as giving them that clout. i think the north korean is very, very different. and it seems to come from a sense that they are very, very scared about regime change, and pressures for regime change and keeping reigns in the hands of the dear leader. so there's different problems and they have to be looked at differently.

i frankly think the iranian issue can be resolved, but i think it will take a wider package than just focusing on the nukes themselves. rather a regional package of dealing with regional security. >> what do you think that could take? because i mean everybody right now is focused on trying to figure a way forward while everybody tries to put as much cold water on the military option, including -- >> right. >> chairman mullan has been doing that. >> i think the first thing we have to do is we have to have some serious discussions. we need to know what it is that they want. and i'm not sure that that is very clear right now. what are their regional security concerns? why do they consider this important in the long run? what might it take to prevent them from going over the brink? i don't know the answer to that, and i think, i'm sure washington doesn't know the answer to that, because they haven't been in conversation. so you need to have the discussion first. >> when it comes to international pressure, what are some of the other disarmment prioritys?

everybody looks at curbing nukes. what are some of the other prioritiess? >> currently the nuclear weapons issue is front and center on the table. and that's good. not only with the new agreement between russia and the united states but with the review conference next year, and also with the agreement in the conference on disarmment in geneva on may 29th, the first agreement in 12 years gsh well done. >> yea! all a new program of work, that includes going forward with negotiations on a material cutoff treaty. so to stop making nuclear weapons material. that is a huge breakthrough, but there are other things on the cd's agenda. one of the big1 is outer space and trying to prevent an arms race in outer space. but nuclear weapons are pretty much front and center. in the conference on disarmment, there is also a lot of interest around the side in geneva in cluster munitions and small arms and light weapons. >> land mines is one. >> land mines. there is a big push to get

discussions started of something called an arms trade treaty that would deal with the lighter end of the spectrum. >> which are actually the deadliest end of the spectrum. >> more people are killed by small arms every day than have been by nuclear weapons over time. >> is there a technology solution to this? can they render mines or cluster emissions safer? >> you can do that. what you have to look at is the end effect. it's really not a question of what weapon you're talking about. it's the effects of the weapon after the war is over, which is the big problem with clusters and land mines. even with the issue of space, how do you define a weapon? well, you can do some of that with technology, ruling certainly capabilitys in or out. but at the end of the day, you really have to put a lot of thought into how long it's going to take to build new technologies, and what's the

value of perhaps a ban versus a technological fit. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> what is next in the u.s. strategy to beat resurgery al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan. b@

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this is about a new, more efficient luxury hybrid continuing to produce 70% fewer smog-forming emissions while delivering greater power. a fact not lost on the world around us. the all-new 2010 lexus rx hybrid. >> last week u.s. forces launched a major campaign in afghanistan to take back territory from insurgents. more than 4000 marines partnered with 650 afghan police, backed by allied aircraft flooded a strive-torn province as the first step in getting back territory from al qaeda. this senior writer just returned from an assignment in satisfy stand, the author of a to die. ting book not a good

shaun, welcome back to the show. >> great to be here. >> how successful is the current operation and what is the next step? >> it's far too early to say how successful this operation is. because the operation will be judged by whether or not the u.s. forces and the afghan security forces can hold the territory that they're currently clearing and taking for an extended period of time, really indefinitely. >> which has been a big challenge throughout. every time territory has been gained, whether by bits or u.s. forces, it's always been taken back. >> that's right. because the coalition has not had the force structure in afghanistan, the numbers of troops necessary to hold the territory that they take. with the addition of 21,000 troops that are being pushed into southern afghanistan from the united states this summer, there's a hope that at least some territory can now be held

indefinitely, and it's sort of a version of the so-called oil spot approach to counter insurgeries, where you take a condition insurgents, where you improve the lives of citizens in a territory, and keep the insurgents out and then folks everywhere see how much better things are for the citizens who are living in the coalition- held territory, the government- held territory, rather than the insurgent held territory. >> how important is the afghan army and the police to doing that? and how up to snuff are these guys? you saw them very recently while you were in afghanistan. >> they are incredibly important. in fact, u.s. counter insurgent doctrine holds that the police should be the primary first line counter insurgent force. typically, police are more locally recruited, they are better able to judge who doesn't fit in a particular town, who is a suspicious

character, and so forth. unfortunately, in afghanistan, the coalition paid very little attention to growing a professional afghan police force in the first years after the toppling of the taliban, paid far more attention to growing the army. that's had a number of effects. first off, you lack a professional police force across much of afghanistan now. a professional effective police force. secondly, there is at least in zabul province where i spent more than a month, tremendous tension between the police, the afghan police force and the afghan national army, because the police see the army as a force that's had all these resources poured into it, and yet, is not taking the fight to the enemy in the way that the police, and indeed, their u.s. mentors, feel that the afghan national police are. >> is there -- you talked about resources, and one of the things you obviously talked about in your book was whether or not the right resources and

the planning was happening. is, now, do the forces there have the tools they need, the training they need, and the resources they need to get the job done? >> the most important two resources are troops and time. and as we've just discussed, there are 21,000 additional troops in southern afghanistan now, and with any luck, the afghan national security forces will be able to supplement those in the near to midterm future. the other important resource is time. the insurgents strategy is fairly clear, which is to try to wait out the u.s. effort here. and to not even gamble, but just take a strategy that says the u.s. public will not have the patience to -- >> that they will withdraw from it, and then they can take back

all the territory that they've lost? >> exactly. >> who is the enemy now in afghanistan? i mean is it just as simple to say that it's taliban and al qaeda? or are there many, many, other groups and sub groups that you're dealing with in the country? >> it's the latter. there are in southern afghanistan, three principal types of enemy. there are what you might call full-time national level taliban, who answer to mull her omar, the old head of the taliban and the so-called regimen located in a pakistan city. then there are local taliban. some are little more than gangsters, really who claim to be taliban and they are part time for the most part and are probably the enemy fighters that the coalition would find easiest to buy off.

and then there are foreign fighters. while i was in zabul, u.s. forces fought a fierce battle against an enemy force that appeared to be speaking farsi and russian. they were much better armed than your average taliban squad. they had body armor, kevlar helmets, used smoke grenades to break contact and so forth. so there is at least three types, and that's just in southern afghanistan. >> sean, thanks very much. we would love to have you back to continue discussing the issue. in my notebook, why the united states needs a district military link with tehran.

>> the window is closing to stop iran from developing nuclear weapons but military action to stop tear ran is a perilous undertaking. that assessment from general mike mullen is spot on. he estimates iran will have a bomb within one to the three years but cautions military actions while still an option

could prompt attacks on gulf states and de stabilize the reason. it's time for direct links between washington and iran. during the cold war the sovietn union and the united states wanted to destroy one another. that didn't stop them from talking. a failure to communicate is driving tensions with north korea. he has cut communications with the outside world and adopted a reckless and unpredictable posture on atomic bombs. north korea and iran have proven intransigent when it comes to giving up their programs. north korea is not interested in talking, but that's not yet the case with iran. before we leave, we salute the 2009 military times service members of the year chosen for going above and beyond the call of duty. to learn more about the winners, fago to militarytimes.com/fmoy.

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