Applauding Kurti’s Fall, the US is Testing Kosovo’s Loyalty

In 2013, Vetevendosje protested against the "soft partition" of Kosovo under which the UN awarded municipalities with a Serb majority considerable autonomy from the government in Pristina.

Kurti and his followers also managed to butt heads with the US. In 2012, the US ambassador accused Kurti and his followers of sending a threatening letter to former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, over a bid to take over Kosovo's state-owned telecommunication company, PTK. In 2013, a Vetevendosje protest in front of the Kosovo assembly got out of hand and the US ambassador injured her arm as she tried to make her way through the protest, which she blamed on the demonstrators.  In both instances, Vetevendosje denied the accusations.

Albin Kurti with his supporters in Pristina, Kosovo, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

On March 23 this year, Kurti's newly elected government became the first political casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. The collapse of the government brings to light how party politics can take precedence over the welfare of citizens, and how US policy is taking shape in the region.

Kurti, 45, won last year's general elections on a left-wing nationalist platform. It called for taking back the state from corrupt leaders and for putting an end to the backroom deals that it said President Hashim Thaci was pursuing with Washington to end the Serbia-Kosovo stalemate.

As a key leader of the PDK, Thaci has been a fixture in Kosovo governments for more than 20 years, having previously served as Prime Minister. Before that he was political head of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. He is expected to appear before the Kosovo special court in The Hague to face allegations of war crimes during his time as KLA leader.

After...