And the border bottleneck is being eased. Kosovo will also remain dependent on foreign help for everything from running the power stations and water-treatment plants to delivering food aid throughout the winter. Few Kosovars are earning money. And the province still has no banking system, few working local governments, and no telephone system other than a creaky, overloaded cellular network that runs through Belgrade. Despite the obstacles, Kosovo itself has come back to life.
Traffic jams choke the large towns and cities.
Markets are overflowing with food. And in the capital, Pristina, pedestrians spill out onto the main street every night as ethnic Albanians play folk music and exult in their newfound freedom and safety. But the outlook for the Serbs is much bleaker. The estimated 38,000 Serbs in the U.S. sector, which has the highest concentration of Serbs remaining in Kosovo, still report they or their brethren are regularly threatened, beaten, kidnapped, or killed on the way to the market. Now, Serbs rarely stray far from home without KFOR escorts.