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Bush Says U.S. Troops Will Remain in Bosnia and Kosovo
CAMP BONDSTEEL, Yugoslavia, July 24 (News Agencies) - The United States will not cut back its military presence in Bosnia and Kosovo, U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday.
"We will not draw down our forces in Bosnia or Kosovo, precipitously or unilaterally," Bush said during a visit to the U.S. military base in Kosovo.
"We understand that America's contribution is essential both militarily and politically."
Bush underscored that U.S. troops will serve alongside their counterparts from other nations in both the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) and the Kosovo Force (KFOR).
"We came in together, we will go out together," Bush said.
"Our goal is to hasten the day when peace is self-sustaining, when local, democratically elected authorities can assume full responsibility, and when NATO forces can go home," he said.
"NATO's commitment to the peace of this region is enduring, but the stationing of our forces here should not be indefinite," said Bush.
During his presidential campaign, Bush indicated that he would pull American troops out of the Balkans, but since taking office has not acted on this; instead he has raised the possibility of deploying U.S. troops to Macedonia, which is facing a Muslim ethnic-Albanian uprising against discrimination.
Earlier Tuesday, Bush flew from Rome to Camp Bondsteel in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo for a morale-boosting mission.
Some 4,500 GIs are based in Kosovo and another 500 troops provide logistical backup in neighboring Macedonia.
The president is having lunch at Camp Bondsteel, southeast of Pristina, where most of the 7,000 American troops in Kosovo are based.
He is also due to meet senior NATO commanders and United Nations officials in charge of the administration of Kosovo.
The visit is the first by a U.S. president since Bill Clinton's in 1999, just after NATO-led forces took control of the region.
It concludes a week-long European tour, which took in both the G8 summit in Genoa, and a meeting with Pope John Paul II.
On Monday, Bush made it clear that despite suggestions made during his election campaign last year, he is not planning a swift military exit from the Balkans.
But, correspondents say the Americans are reluctant to get involved in further missions, for example in Macedonia, the BBC online service reported.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said that Bush would push for the strengthening of civilian institutions in the region as a step towards bringing the troops home.
An unnamed U.S. official said, "Kosovo needs to end up like the rest of the region, as part of Europe. We don't want to make Kosovo become the 51st state of the United States."
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