# 99075. Clinton: Kosovo Deployment Hinges on Agreement,  

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By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON � President Clinton has said he will commit 
American troops to Kosovo only if there is a strong peace 
agreement, a permissive security environment and a NATO 
mission with clear exit strategy.

Speaking at an award ceremony here Feb. 4, the president 
said he is seriously considering the possibility of U.S. 
participation in a NATO-led peacekeeping force if a 
settlement is reached. �We are discussing it now with 
Congress and our allies,� he said. �No decision has been 
reached.�

The president outlined what it will take for the United 
States to contribute troops to a Kosovo mission in Kosovo. 
First, he called for �a strong, effective� peace agreement. 
Both sides must show they�re committed to the agreement and 
they�re willing to cooperate with NATO, he said. 

�If both parties haven�t committed to stop killing each 
other, there�s no point in our sending Americans and other 
NATO forces and other allied forces into a situation where 
we can�t succeed,� Clinton said.
 
There also must be �a permissive security environment with 
the withdrawal of enough Serbian security forces and an 
agreement restricting the weapons of the Kosovar 
paramilitaries,� he said.

The President seeks a well-defined NATO mission with a 
clear exit strategy. �Our European allies will have to 
contribute a substantial majority of the troops, but NATO 
is a partnership, and they have the right to expect the 
United States � to be a part of that.� 

Great Britain has already put 8,000 troops on 72-hour alert 
for possible deployment to Kosovo. French Defense Minister 
Alain Richard said his nation is ready to contribute 5,000 
ground troops and 40 aircraft. U.S. defense officials told 
Congress they are considering deploying up to 4,000 ground 
troops if the President�s conditions are met. 

Serb authorities and ethnic-Albanian separatists are slated 
to hold peace talks this weekend in Rambouillet, France. 
International officials hope they will settle their dispute 
over the autonomy of the southern Serb province. 

If an agreement is reached, NATO is considering deploying 
about 28,000 troops to implement the peace. If the talks 
fail, NATO is ready to take military action. An activation 
order for air strikes has remained in effect since last 
fall when humanitarian disaster loomed among several 
hundred thousand displaced people facing the onset of 
winter. A temporary agreement reached then to stop the 
violence has been repeatedly violated. 

In the last 11 months, fighting in Kosovo has killed 2,000 
people, according to press reports. Within the last six 
weeks alone, state department officials said 45,000 ethnic 
Albanians have been forced to flee their homes. 

As the ethnic war in Bosnia demonstrated, �if you don�t 
oppose the violence it just gets worse and worse and worse, 
until finally you do oppose it at a much higher price, 
under more dangerous conditions,� he said. 

Sending NATO peacekeepers to Bosnia has proven successful, 
Clinton pointed out. The United States initially sent 
28,000 troops to implement peace in Bosnia. Today, there 
are less than 7,000 and the drawdown continues. The �peace 
process has taken hold,� the president said. 

Clinton said the situation in Kosovo represents �the 
biggest remaining danger to our objective of peace and 
stability in Europe.� If it continues, he said, it will 
draw Albania and Macedonia, and it could involve Greece and 
Turkey, both NATO allies.

�We�ll see another massive humanitarian crisis; there will 
be more atrocities, more refugees crossing borders, more 
people crying out for justice and more people seeking 
revenge,� the president said. �Therefore, the time to stop 
this conflict in Kosovo is now, before it spreads, and when 
it can be contained at an acceptable cost.

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