By General Piro Ahmetaj
March 24, 1999 will remain engraved in NATO history as “the beginning of the end of Serbia’s barbaric invasion of Kosovo.” In his “capacity as an expert on National Security, the region, and relations with the USA/NATO,” he recalls the circumstances and geopolitical weight of this major date-event:
First, on the evening of March 23, 1999, the peace missionary, the well-known Ambassador Holbrooke, and the well-known General Westly Clark, returned from Belgrade to Brussels: “cynically rejected by Milosevic” in the diplomatic attempt to avoid NATO’s military intervention. In the early hours of the next day, March 24, US/NATO air power engaged in a war “outside Article 5”, i.e. without the approval of the UN Security Council, but which legitimized NATO as the “Alliance of freedom, peace, hope and faith in democratic values” worldwide!
Thus, March 24, 1999, symbolizes not only the anniversary of a glorious event for NATO’s geopolitical history, but deserves to remain engraved in eternity by Albanians as the date of national gratitude to US/NATO military power.
In addition, this date-event forever changed the geopolitical map of the region, in favor of the Euro-Atlantic Alliance as well as the Albanian nation.
Even in the current situation, March 24 remains an event with “strong messages of hope” for the end that awaits Putin-Russia, which: “after over 3 years of barbaric war”. Meanwhile, there is no dilemma left, not even for the rusty minds not only in Belgrade, that precisely because of this war, the Kremlin finds itself more isolated today than ever before, while the International Court has issued an “arrest warrant for war crimes” against Putin and the list of oppressors around him.
Secondly, I express my regret for the blatant lack of “institutional recognition from Pristina and official Tirana” despite the vital necessity that Kosovo and our Nation have for strengthening cooperation with the strategic partners USA/NATO/EU!
I find it disappointing that after 26 years of independence, the chief liberators of Kosovo, i.e. official Washington, has raised a serious disappointment: “for the fact that the government of Kosovo and Tirana is not consulting and working with the US on regional security”!
I express my revolt not only for the decision-making without consulting the US, but especially for the recycling of Bolshevik stubbornness and folkloric sovereignty by the omnipotent of Kosovo, towards the politicians and opinionated commentators in Pristina, Tirana, etc.
Reiterating “the humility to the martyrs of the homeland as well as the deepest respect for the sacrifices for independence of the fighters and people of Kosovo throughout the centuries”, after 26 years I believe even more strongly that in the noble conscience of the nation it will be forever engraved that: “The liberation of Kosovo from the Serbian occupiers was not achieved only by wars, nor by resistance, nor by the sacrifices of the people of Kosovo”.
I hope we “nobly acknowledge” that only thanks to the intervention of the US/NATO air power, Milosevic signed the withdrawal of the occupying forces (military and police) to the borders defined by resolution 1244 and consecrated in the Flag of Kosovo by H.E. President Rugova. For this, it is enough to calmly bring to attention that in the Kumanovo Agreement, the KLA was neither a signatory nor an observer, even though it decided to merge and transform into the Kosovo Security Forces, while territorial security was entrusted to KFOR, with over 37 thousand infantry forces from 36 countries, NATO members and not only.
Therefore, neither Marxist discourses nor patriotic oaths on sovereignty and sovereign rights will be able to obscure the defining role of the “true liberators” (the US) of Kosovo from Serbian occupation, nor the critical weight that for 26 years, they continue to hold for peace, stability, and the Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo.
Having said this, March 24 deserves to be marked not only as a day of nationwide gratitude to the USA-NATO, but also as a day of thanks to the 36 countries and about 500 thousand KFOR soldiers, who for 26 years continue to protect peace in Kosovo and the region.
Thirdly, due to the functions I have exercised over the past 26 years, I have followed the security situation in Kosovo and the region with increased attention. Of course, I have done my duty by presenting the strategic assessments and recommendations for the stability and Euro-Atlantic challenges of Kosovo at the highest security forums, conferences, panels, etc., as well as thousands of pages published in the capitals of the region, including Belgrade; at the Atlantic Council in Washington; with security experts/colleagues in Brussels, the Marshall Center, Germany, the College of Rome, in 32 NATO countries.
Whereas, in the last 15 years: “strategic concerns about the arming to the teeth and (bad) abuse of Belgrade by the Kremlin, Beijing and surprisingly Paris”, I have addressed them as simple/public questions, to Mr. Vučić and his generals: “Why does he spend more than 1.5 billion euros per year on arming with tanks; ‘Mig-29’, Rafalo; combat helicopters, Pantsir-S missiles, etc., killer drones, etc.? Why has he deployed 3/4 of the structures and offensive military power (not as PMRSh Rama advocates!!) on the state borders of Kosovo(?); by which country or Alliance is the territorial integrity of Serbia endangered?; or the integrity of which sovereign country, apart from Kosovo, does Serbia threaten”?
On the other hand, I have no doubt that 26 years after the liberation of Kosovo or 38 months of the bloody war in Ukraine: “I find the positions and actions of Official Belgrade synchronized with Russia’s geopolitical interests in the Balkans.” However, Putinist Russia has failed to ignite a new war front in the region, by inspiring and arming criminal groups in northern Kosovo as well as extremists of the Dodik type, to keep the anti-Western spirit alive, or by discrediting Belgrade “to the point of military aggression” not only against Kosovo’s territorial sovereignty, but also against the increased presence of KFOR/NATO on the ground.
Having said this, I must repeat it clearly, including for the generals and Putinist minds in Belgrade (and not only) as well as for the folkloric sovereignists of Pristina and official Tirana: “As long as there is a US-NATO presence on the ground, military aggression against the territorial integrity of Kosovo, other than a suicidal adventure by Serbia, remains a completely impossible mission (zero)”!
Below you will find a summary of “5 strategic recommendations” for long-term security, constructive dialogue, peaceful coexistence for the Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo and Serbia:
1. Serbia and Kosovo will have to be serious about developing measures of mutual trust and peaceful coexistence between peoples, by consulting in advance and giving confidence to the project of President Trump and NATO.
2. Official Belgrade should “forget the neo-Stalinist threats” to return the Serbian flag to the place of crimes against humanity, as well as recycle the bloody campaigns against the territory of Kosovo and the Albanian people.
For the good of Serbia, not to waste 1.5 billion euros a year from taxes/labor of the Serbian people, since it has zero, ability, or inclination to face the military power of the USA/NATO and the KSF in Kosovo; to give up dreams of “drinking” from 5 mothers (Moscow, Brussels, Beijing, Paris, and Washington). Meanwhile, Mr. Vučić should not recycle Milošević’s oscillations nor make the brave man furious by threatening the West (either with Serbia or with Kosovo!); but neither the victim nor the irritated one, since, as confirmed by Pentagon experts, the 246 ‘Javelin’ missiles approved by the US for the Kosovo Force are not offensive capabilities, but only to exercise the sovereign right of self-defense of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo from any potential enemy, which in fact remains only Serbia, right?
3. Official Pristina and Tirana, without consulting the US, should in no way make decisions with strategic impacts, which undermine the foundations of trust with the “liberators/USA, who for 26 years continue to hold critical weight for the security and Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo”. Furthermore, I would fraternally advise the open-minded actors of Pristina that: “The liberation from the Serbian occupiers in 1999 and the recycling of Belgrade’s military threats to the integrity of Kosovo”, should not be considered with populist triumphalism, but as a “high state responsibility to build a modern Kosovo”, beyond the presence of NATO (which will not be eternal); a place where citizens, regardless of their ethnic, religious and political affiliations, feel equal before the law, as well as the factorization of Kosovo from consumers, into contributors to security and the integration of the region into NATO and the EU!
4. Official Tirana and Pristina have a high national and noble responsibility to demonstrate gratitude to the USA-NATO. While despite: “Unconsulted decisions and the cacophony of internationalist protagonism”, I appreciate as a national emergency, the establishment of a “Wise Group”. with universally accepted personalities, who bow their knees before the bloody history and national interests to give life to a common platform “2-Sovereign States, 1-Single Nation”, guaranteeing strategic partners that this “belated platform” will contribute as a rational balance for long-term peace in the region.
Of course: “this project (2-States 1-Nation), has no connection whatsoever with the Bolshevik delusion that comes from the electoral power of the superpower nor with the robber rulers who are waiting (trembling) for their turn in SPAK; neither with facade pluralism nor with the misery of the tattered opposition”.
5. Meanwhile, I would re-suggest to strategic partners, actors and experts/colleagues in the region, Washington, Brussels, etc., that they make the prospect of peace and stability in the region conditional on the restoration of two Mutual Confidence Measures, through which Serbia “imposes” that: (1) it will maintain the balance of military power by not threatening the territorial integrity of Kosovo; (2) it will not establish military installations or activities (25 km air distance and 10 km land distance) on the state borders between the countries, two conditions that will certainly need to be monitored by the USA-NATO-EU, which remain critical factors for peace in the region.
In summary, despite the recycling of centuries of hatred and bloodshed, I believe even more strongly that March 24, 1999 will remain an alarm bell while: “Peace remains the only mission, in the interest of the security of life, property, well-being of citizens, as well as the Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo, Serbia and the 4 other countries of the Western Balkans”.
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