[ALBSA-Info] Europe Offers U.S. an Exit

[Iris Pilika]

2316 GMT, 000201 $ Europe Offers U.S. an Exit from Kosovo $ Now What?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced Jan. 22 that
Eurocorps, a five-nation European military organization, will head the
Kosovo International Security Force (KFOR) for a six-month period.
Although Eurocorps officials in Strasbourg, France, were quick to point
out that Eurocorps has always been available for NATO missions, this is
the first instance in which a non-NATO entity has been selected to lead
a NATO operation. It marks a significant step in a larger process that
could change the dynamics of not only the American-dominated alliance
but also U.S. involvement in ongoing Balkan peacekeeping missions.

More than 350 personnel from the five Eurocorps countries $ Belgium,
France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain $ are set to take full command of
the 50,000-strong KFOR force in April 2000. Even though the headquarters
unit must be augmented by troops from other NATO units, this signifies a
major political victory in the European effort to develop its own
military capability. Eurocorps might very well form the basis for such a
force.

Though multinational European defense structures have existed since
World War II, they were mostly geared to fight large land battles across
Europe. Since Kosovo, much more attention has been paid to Europe$s
ability to project forces independently of support from the United
States. The former British Defense Secretary George Robertson, now NATO
secretary-general, blasted European countries for having some 1.9
million personnel under arms, but being unable to deploy so much as 2
percent of that force to Kosovo. Heeding Robertson$s calls, in December
1999, at their summit in Helsinki, Finland, the European Union (EU)
called for the creation of an independent European defense identity $
initially within NATO $ able to operate when NATO chooses not to
intervene.

EU plans for an independent European security organization have raised
concerns that Eurocorps might form the basis of a $European Army$ that
could ultimately divide or weaken the structure of NATO. This would give
the EU more leverage to act independently from the United States, Canada
and the six European countries that belong to NATO but are not members
of the EU. The United States, in particular has also expressed concern
about EU plans to set up parallel political and military structures that
could duplicate, rather than complement, the alliance's own
organization. The KFOR operation and its sister operation in Bosnia
(SFOR) are already mired by bureaucratic constraints because of the
international nature of the command and control structure.

However, despite these concerns and U.S. fears that the creation of an
independent European defense entity could weaken Trans-Atlantic ties, it
could also work in the United States$ favor by accelerating the retreat
of U.S. troops from the Balkans. In effect, the United States is hostage
to its Balkan policy. It cannot withdraw troops from either Bosnia or
Kosovo because, without U.S. leadership and support, both missions would
weaken, leading to the possibility of renewed conflict. Conversely, the
United States cannot afford to indefinitely station troops in the
Balkans, lest it limit possible future U.S. interventions elsewhere.

This means that the designation of Eurocorps to head the KFOR mission
could be a blessing and a curse for Europe. On one hand, it gives
European militaries practical experience in conducting their own
operations that could eventually form the basis for an independent and
purely European military organization. On the other hand, in lessening
their reliance on U.S. support, especially in a highly volatile area
such as the Balkans, Europe may find itself ultimately with complete
responsibility for both current and future Balkan operations albeit
without the political will or military efficiency of the United States.
What this means is that the prize for achieving European military
autonomy could be inheriting the Kosovo quagmire.