Pristina: U.S. endorsed creation of Kosovo armed forces

PRISTINA - The United States Defense Ministry have expressed their support for Pristina authorities' efforts to transform the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) into armed forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo said in a release on Tuesday.

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hasim Taci and Minister for European Integration Bekim Colaku official met at the Pentagon with with Evelyn Farkas, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and received words of support for the transformation of the security force.

According to the release, the officials said they believed the current year would be crucial when it came to the military-related transformation.

Taci said that the entire process of monitoring the security sector, as well as the transformation of the KSF into armed forces, had been conducted with the support of NATO and the United States.

Farkas said that Kosovo had full support of the United States in the security area, adding that the steps made so far in the transformation of the KSF into armed forces were making the road to joining the Partnership for Peace program and NATO a lot easier.

Taci also met with Senator Chris Murphy and Congressman George Holding.

During his visit to the United States, Taci will attend the National Prayer Breakfast and have more meetings with senior US officials, according to the release.

Kosovo-Metohija is Serbia's southern province where interim UN administration was set up in June 1999, following an armed conflict between the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and NATO bombing of the FRY earlier that year.

However, with the support of the United...