Selim Ibraimi- NATO has decided to reduce its peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. The US has decided to do the same. What does this mean for Kosovo’s security, and are there other reasons for these American moves? To remove all the dilemmas and speculations of disinformation both inside and outside Kosovo, US General Alexus Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has emphasized that Kosovo’s security institutions have become more capable.
“KFOR will gradually reduce its size over the next year due to the improved security situation in the country,” he said. Before the Pentagon announced these new cuts, US senators and congressmen from both parties in the US Congress were alarmed about the possible consequences of the withdrawal of US troops from Europe and Kosovo. According to reports, the senators warned that “a premature withdrawal could destabilize the fragile security of the Western Balkans and embolden Russia and Serbia.”
Various analysts in the region have said that the reduction of NATO’s presence in Kosovo is related to the improved situation in northern Kosovo. The government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti has taken additional measures in recent years to establish order and security in the north. NATO and the US are relying on the policy of reducing international and American forces here, without excluding disagreements and resentments with European allies who did not provide sufficient assistance in the American war in the Persian Gulf with Iran. After the attack in Banjska in 2023, NATO increased its forces to ensure order and peace on Kosovo’s borders with Serbia. The escalating tensions then led NATO and the US to maintain a force of up to 4,600 international troops.
The US currently has 600 peacekeepers in Kosovo, and it has not been announced how much this number will be reduced after the new announcements from the Pentagon. Analysts in Serbia who are in favor of the permanent withdrawal of NATO from Kosovo, which also serves as the defense force of Kosovo along with the KSF, hope that this reduction of American and multinational forces will lead to a permanent American withdrawal from Kosovo and an opportunity for Serbian forces to return there as before 1999. Such threats have been taken seriously by the Kosovo authorities, who in recent years have increased the capabilities of the KSF and other intelligence agencies.
As mentioned above, American resentment is related to the refusal of NATO member states to allow American forces to use military bases. And all this seems to have reflected in an American movement not only in the member states, but also beyond.
So Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, threatened NATO members: “The US will continue to maintain some of its obligations to NATO even if ‘free’ allies do not meet their defense spending commitments.”
Addressing defense ministers of member states at NATO headquarters in Brussels last Thursday, Secretary Hegseth said the review would take up to six months and would include consultations with the US Congress, which has set a minimum number of US forces in Europe by law. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte tried to play down this new American threat. Rutte said the US was not withdrawing more troops from Europe. “It is not about where the forces and assets are currently located,” he said in Brussels. “It is about who and what would do if our defense plans were activated. So let’s say in the event of an Article 5 situation,” Rutte said.
During this American troop movement, Kosovo can continue to buy weapons. This is a good opportunity to show that it is able to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity without international forces. Step by step in the next five years, with a larger budget, Kosovo can strengthen and modernize its army (the Kosovo Armed Forces) to face the threats of the time and from Serbia. Independence in defense and the strengthening of other institutions would lead to a complete removal from international observation, making Kosovo a state that does not need mandates, either like UN 1244, or like EULEX, or from foreign forces. Kosovo should see this American move through this prism, while increasing cooperation with the United States in the field of defense, without leaving aside friendly and allied countries around the world.
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