A decade after the normalization of relations, the USSR and the Federal Republic had developed a modus vivendi in which economic contacts played a significant role. By the end of the 1970s, the progress made in developing a stable institutional framework for bilateral and multilateral relations in CSCE had given the FRG a considerable stake in maintaining the dynamic of its Ostpolitik. Bonn had begun to play a more autonomous role in international affairs, and the United States had ceased to determine the agenda for West German foreign policy, although it continued to play a significant role in establishing the overall framework for East–West relations. Nevertheless, the growing independence of West German foreign policy inevitably led to conflicts between Bonn and Washington over policy toward the USSR. The Soviet Union was well aware of these developments and was not averse to utilizing intra-Western disagreements to its own advantage.

Afghanistan and the Western alliance

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 brought into sharp focus the differences within the Atlantic Alliance over policy toward the USSR and highlighted the diverging perceptions in Washington and Bonn over the use of linkage, which had developed over the past decade. At the same time, West German Ostpolitik entered a third phase, whose central feature was the preservation of the concrete improvements in relations with Eastern Europe that had been achieved since 1970.