41.  In the haphazard transition to democracy under Boris Yeltsin, conventional forces bore the brunt of downsizing and shrinking budgets.

42.  It enabled American forces to wage the war by carrying out air strikes and dispatching commandos with a limited numbers of conventional forces.

43.  It is a nascent democracy with a struggling market economy and a hollow conventional military force.

44.  It may also be used as a staging area for conventional military forces and possibly as well for humanitarian assistance and development operations.

45.  It is far smaller than India and has weaker conventional forces.

46.  Leaders of several groups have warned that the White House seems bent on paying for missile defense and other costly high-tech weapons by cutting conventional forces.

47.  Moreover, that reserve is expected to shrink more rapidly as Moscow diverts more and more of its resources to upgrading its conventional military forces.

48.  Neither nation, however, replicates the conditions in Afghanistan, and specialized combat and intelligence teams would probably need to be supplemented with more conventional forces.

49.  Non-nuclear U.S. allies, including Japan and NATO nations, have depended on U.S. nuclear weapons as a last resort should they face defeat from conventional forces.

50.  Originally negotiated when the Soviet Union existed, the conventional forces treaty sets limits on military equipment like tanks and artillery in the regions bordering Europe.