U.S. Army Peace Operations in Kosovo: Time for a Change

Abstract : Current U.S. policy in Kosovo provides stability in this troubled region, but clearly commits the U.S. Army to long-term engagement. And while this overarching policy and U.S. involvement is important to the long-term stability of Kosovo and the entire Southeastern European region, it is expensive in terms of the U.S. Army's readiness and associated financial costs of sustaining a large military presence. It is time to review the current policy and its effectiveness in order to determine a way ahead that not only sustains critical U.S. leadership and involvement in the region, but also restructures the Army's role in order to improve combat readiness and reinvest limited defense dollars and other resources necessary to transform the Army to meet the needs of the 2lst Century.