Jamie Shea: KFOR to remain in Kosovo until NATO membership

He cited Serbia's “hygiene” as one of the reasons why these forces must still remain in place.

“KFOR is still needed. Because we still have tensions in Kosovo. We had the incident in Banjska three years ago, and we have Serbia making threats from time to time by placing military troops on borders with Kosovo, so we still need KFOR there”, Shea said in Kosovo Clan, broadcast Periscope.

This ensures not only Kosovars but also the Serb minority in the north because this peacekeeping force protects all. I'm under the impression that we can fix the level of forces according to security situation”.

“But KFOR troops should remain in Kosovo until the day when Kosovo memberships in the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO. This would lead to the softest transition. And as long as KFOR is there, Kosovo is on NATO radar, which I think is important for Kosovo to receive the attention required by Brussels”.

According to Sheas, KFOR's presence also offers the KSF itself opportunities to train and train even more for NATO.

The KFOR presence in Kosovo provides the Kosovo Security Force with valuable opportunities for training, training, and enabling with NATO. That sounds like someone who's a tennis player and has a sports coach who lives next to you. This will accelerate Kosovo's integration into NATO, which I welcome”.

“KFOR is a task that is not difficult for I hold NATO in terms of the number of troops, expenses, because this mission has done excellent work to preserve stability in the Western Balkans. Several elements of this mission so must stay until Kosovo enters NATO. /Periscope/