Ultimately NATO assumed command of the multinational force under a mandate from the UN Security Council. Overall, the U.S. chose to intervene in the Balkans more out of frustration with Milosevic rather than after careful planning. However, the Clinton administration's initial disregard for the UN Security Council, despite unequivocal requirements in the UN Charter specifying that only the Council can authorize the use of force against a sovereign state, serves as a dangerous precedent. While the Dayton and Kosovo agreements have stopped the fighting, they have not included frameworks for ethnic reconciliation or multiethnic societies. At the end of the twentieth century, the challenges in the Balkans remain daunting.
Tensions remain high in both Albania and Macedonia.
Nationalism continues to fester in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, and Macedonia. Montenegro has threatened to secede from Yugoslavia, and the Muslims of the Sandzak feel threatened in Serbia. Policy should be directed toward finding a regional solution to these problems. The Western powers need to take an unequivocal stand against nationalist leaders and movements on all sides and provide real incentives for the peoples of the Balkans to embark on the path of reconciliation and civil societies.