The attached Report provides an Overview of the 1995 Report to Congress on Allied Contributions to the Common Defense. We have entitled it Toward a New Partnership in Responsibility Sharing since the latter phrase, first introduced last year, captures the nature of US and Allied contributions to coping with the complex realities and opportunities presented by the end of the Cold War far better than the older idea of "Burden Sharing."
The concept of "Responsibility Sharing" is based on the fact that allied nations contribute to their security, and to our own, in a variety of ways. For example, in Europe, through initiatives such as the Partnership for Peace, we are working together with our Allies to build a new security architecture that will enchance peace and stability throughout the transatlantic region.
Responsibility Sharing is particularly vividly illustrated by the major efforts mounted by European Allies in support of various UN mandates, especially in Former Yugoslavia. They provide the bulk of the forces for UN operations there, sustaining scores of casualties in the process. They also provided significant support to UN efforts to protect the Iraqi Kurds and to meet the humanitarian crises in such places as Somalia, Haiti, and Rwanda.
Allies in other regions have also increased their efforts. Japan and Korea not only contribute important forces of their own, but, through generous host nation support, allow us to maintain significant US forces on their soil at greatly reduced cost to this nation. This presence is critical to the continued stability of the world's most rapidly growing region economically. In the Persian Gulf, Kuwait and other regional friends provide critical host nation support for our forces committed to the defense of this vital area.
In today's complex world, it is necessary to look beyond the confines of Burden Sharing to examine the totality of our Allies' contributions to building a more stable, prosperous and peaceful world. This Report, with its focus on Responsibility Sharing, attempts this task. I commend it to you.
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