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By keeping up the military pressure during the negotiations, the U.S. could probably help speed them. Together with its allies, the U.S. might reasonably negotiate for a series of compromises: a cease-fire policed by a greatly expanded International Control Commission; a withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops in return for the recognition of the Viet Cong as a political party; the guarantee of South Viet Nam as an independent country for five or more years, during which time the U.S. would be permitted to keep troops in the country—much fewer than at present, but still a substantial force.
Helped by considerable U.S. economic, educational and medical aid, the South Vietnamese government could go about the job of nation-building, peacefully trying to woo the man in the paddy away from the Viet Cong. The U.S. —as President Johnson has suggested—might even make considerable contribution to the rebuilding of North Viet Nam's economy. Many years from now, the combined effort might result in development of either a permanently independent South Viet Nam or a unified Viet Nam with a non-Communist majority.