These East-West talks on “Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR)” went on for several years without major progress and eventually gave way to new negotiations on “Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).” As the Cold War came to a close, the CFE negotiations produced a landmark agreement reducing non-nuclear military forces from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains and subjecting the remaining forces to tight controls.

The CFE Treaty of 19 November 1990 is the most comprehensive, legally binding agreement on conventional arms control ever produced. Its goal, now largely accomplished, was to reduce imbalances in the numbers of major conventional weapon systems in Europe in order to eliminate the potential for surprise attack or large-scale offensive operations. Since the Treaty entered into force on 9 November 1992, some 60,000 battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, pieces of artillery, attack helicopters and combat aircraft have been removed from the area and destroyed. One of the agreement’s biggest accomplishments has been its contribution to transparency — making all military establishments and forces more visible to all other states. The Treaty’s requirements for the timely provision of information and for elaborate inspection procedures help to reduce concern about the intentions and capabilities of neighbouring states. It would be very difficult to “hide” any significant military capabilities in today’s Europe, partly because of the provisions of the CFE Treaty.

Throughout 1999, efforts continued among the countries concerned, to adapt the CFE Treaty to the new security conditions in Europe, with a view to completing this process by the end of the year. Bearing in mind that the Treaty was originally developed in a framework provided by two opposing systems, it had to reflect the reality of an evolving system of cooperative security throughout Europe. At the same time, the adaptation had to take into account the special concerns of states located on the southern and northern extremities of Europe. Negotiations on the adaptation of the Treaty were successfully completed in Spring 2000.

The CFE Treaty runs in close parallel with measures adopted by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) designed to promote transparency and stability through annual exchanges of information on military forces, random verification inspections, and the presence of observers at military exercises. Arms Control and Reductions in Relation to Nuclear Forces

During the Cold War, NATO relied heavily on the possible use of nuclear weapons to deter the leadership of the Soviet Union from any conceivable attempt to threaten or use military force against Western Europe in order to achieve its ideological or political goals. The Soviet Union deployed such large numbers of military forces in Central and Eastern Europe that NATO countries worried they might not be able to stop Soviet-led troops and tanks if they were to launch an attack, however unlikely this might be.