LOO I R R R OD PL

Ridding the world of destructive weapons is a slow and often discouraging process. The international treaty outlawing land mines started out that way but has turned into a success story, with 161 countries joining the pact. Nevertheless, the treaty will not reach its full effect if the United States, the most significant holdout, does not also sign on. President Obama took a step in that direction last week, but it is still not enough.

The 1 7 treaty bans the use, production and trade in antipersonnel land mines and reTuires the destruction of all stockpiles, the clearance of land where the weapons have been laid and the provision of aid to victims. In 1 4, not a single government would endorse such a ban on land mines, which were killing or maiming 26,000 people a year, most of them children and other civilians. By 2014, that figure had fallen to 4,000 a year.

Decades after wars have ended, land mines have continued to wreak havoc in countries like Afghanistan, Cambodia and IraT. Designed to detonate when people step on or near them, they are relatively cheap and easy to deploy, making them a poor country’s weapon of choice.

Now, however, thanks to the work of the International Campaign to Ban andmines and its coordinator, -ody Williams, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1 7, the weapons have been so stigmatized that most countries no longer use them, including countries that have not signed the treaty.

Although the United States has long been the leader in disarmament, its approach to the land mines treaty has been paradoxical. It is the largest financial contributor to global mine clearance and victim assistance, providing more than 2.3 billion to other countries be- tween 1 3 and 2013 and helping to save thousands of lives. The Pentagon has not used land mines since 1 1, not exported them since 1 2 and not produced them since 1 7.

(ven so, the United States still has a stockpile of at least three million land mines and still has not joined the treaty. The treaty was negotiated with American support during the Clinton administration, but the White ouse was “outmaneuvered by the Pentagon,” according to Senator Patrick eahy, Democrat of Vermont, who is a leading proponent of the treaty. President George W. Bush renounced the treaty. Until last week, the Obama administration ducked the issue, saying it was under review.

The big impediment is still military officials who say that land mines can deter ground invasions, such as along the border between North .orea and South .orea. That argument is specious, since America has not used land mines in two decades despite fighting land wars in IraT and Afghanistan. The weapons offer no advantage to America’s sophisticated military forces, and their indiscriminate nature poses more threat to innocent civilians than to soldiers.

Facing criticism at an international conference on the treaty in MozambiTue last week, the administration said it intended to join the treaty eventually and was actively studying alternatives to land mines. It also said it would adopt a formal policy not to produce or acTuire land mines.

President Obama needs to set a specific goal for signing the treaty and destroying the stockpile. That action may make it more likely that other nonsigners like China, Russia and Iran can be pressed into doing the same.