The US fully supports the transformation of the lightly armed Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) into a modern, interoperable NATO Territorial Defense Force, US Ambassador to Pristina Jeffrey Hovenier said.
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On Wednesday, he met with USEUCOM Director of Strategy, Planning and Policy Major General Daniel Lasika and USEUCOM diplomat Keith Mary Burns.
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“Happy to welcome… to Kosovo. The US fully supports the transformation of the KSF into a multinational, professional, NATO interoperable territorial defense force. Proud of our consistent and excellent cooperation,” the US ambassador tweeted.
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The self-proclaimed republic’s “defence minister” Armend Mehai said in January that the paramilitary Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) would not only participate, but would be co-planning with NATO the multinational exercise Defender-Europe 2023.
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The self-proclaimed Kosovo, according to UN Security Council resolution 1244, does not have its own army. The authorities in Pristina, with material support from NATO, are modernizing and training lightly armed SFKs with the aim of transforming them into full-fledged armed forces, which causes protests from the Serbian authorities. The law on the SBC, approved in December 2018, provides for a personnel of 5,000 fighters.
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The competition for the replenishment of the SBC personnel was announced in the light of another escalation of tension in the region.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucicup reproached the West for hypocrisy because it condemned Belgrade’s purchase of FK-3 air defense systems in China, while the UK is supplying Javellin anti-tank systems and NLAW anti-tank systems to the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo. Armend Mehai, Minister of the Lightly Armed Security Forces of Kosovo, said at the time that the KSF “have been and are being supplied with the most modern weapons and equipment.”
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The self-proclaimed republic in March 2021 sent a KSF contingent on its first international mission as part of US forces in Kuwait. The Kosovo security forces in May and June 2021 participated for the first time in the NATO military exercises Defender Europe 21 in the territory of the province, Albania and Croatia.
In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the army and police of Serbia led to the bombing of Yugoslavia (at that time consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) by NATO forces. In March 2004, Kosovo Albanians staged pogroms, which led to the mass resettlement of Serbs from the region and the destruction of numerous monuments of their history and culture. Kosovo-Albanian structures in Pristina on February 17, 2008 unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.
