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Others in the Administration insist that no talks should be held until the U.S. is well launched into an arms buildup and the Soviets make conciliatory gestures. Some Reagan staffers even advocate breaking off the few links that now remain. Navy Secretary John Lehman last week argued that the U.S. should no longer honor the informal agreement whereby the U.S. and the Soviet Union continue to observe the terms of the SALT I treaty on control of strategic arms, which expired in 1977. The President seems uncertain: he said last week that the U.S. should not talk to the Soviets unless touchy subjects like Afghanistan are on the table. He also declined to make Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan a precondition for negotiations and indicated little hope of achieving such a withdrawal during negotiations. When to resume bargaining with the U.S.S.R., at what level, under what conditions and about which subjects is a matter on which the Administration simply has not made up its mind.
Relations with the Allies. They have improved markedly, thanks in no small part to the rapport Haig built up during his 4% years as NATO commander. He is personally friendly with virtually every European foreign and defense minister. The allies are genuinely pleased that Washington seems about to pursue a clear and direct policy, and are delighted with the Reagan-Haig pledge to consult with them carefully before taking any major steps —a pledge that may or may not ever be fulfilled to their outspoken satisfaction. In particular, Washington is achieving a notable rapprochement with Paris after years of estrangement. But several allies have already expressed fear that the U.S. will take too unbending and militaristic a line around the world.
The Middle East. The U.S. has no policy as yet for dealing with Arab-Israeli tension. Haig, who will visit Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia next month, is essentially stalling until the outcome of the Israeli elections June 30, which might well bring in a government more flexible than the one now headed by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Some European allies are concerned about the stalemate in the talks between Egypt and Israel on autonomy for the West Bank and Gaza.
These allies are pressing their own initiative, involving negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which the U.S. has scorned as a terrorist organization. More important, Haig views that area of the world essentially in terms of Persian Gulf security. He would like to establish in the region a military force that could counter Soviet moves or come to the aid of a friendly Arab government threatened by Communist subversion.
There is a surprising amount of support for the idea among the allies, who have a vital interest in keeping the oil-shipping lanes open. But some worry about being trapped in Middle East conflicts.
China. Haig is a strong advocate of closer relations with Peking. As a military man he has gratefully noted the fact that a fourth of the Soviet Union's troops are tied down guarding the Chinese frontier and thus unavailable for adventurism