The US relationship with Kosovo

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Retired Army Major-General William Nash was the United Nation’s civil administrator in Kosovo in 2000. He says Washington should re-examine its close relationship with Kosovo’s government. Download MP3

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Lisa Mullins: After the 1999 war in Kosovo, the man who took on the job of United Nations civil administrator there was U.S. Retired Army Major General William Nash. He says that achieving stability was a top priority.

William Nash: There was insufficient effort to establish order and the rule of law from the very beginning.

Mullins: General Nash says that during his time in Kosovo, he heard a stream of allegations about Kosovo officials, including the current prime minister, Hashim Thaçi.

Nash: And there were some people, and Thaci certainly was one that was mentioned at the time, that were suspect of very tough behavior, at the very least, during the war.

Mullins: So bring us to now. Should the international community, should certainly the United States at this point, still enjoy the warm relations it has with Hashim Thaçi? He is welcomed in Washington. Should he get diplomatic and financial backing still from Washington?

Nash: It has been my opinion for a long time, to include when I worked for the United Nations, that the United States was overly supportive of folks that had not necessarily demonstrated their commitment to the ideals for which we were working.

Mullins: And Hashim Thaçi would be one, the prime minister of Kosovo?

Nash: Yes.

Mullins: What should the U.S. be doing right now, then?

Nash: Well, I think the United States today should be supporting a thorough, comprehensive, complete investigation of the charges. And it’s time to either produce the goods or stop the talk.

Mullins: Why isn’t that happening?

Nash: I can’t tell you that.

Mullins: What do you do, I mean, you know the politics on the ground. Why wouldn’t it happen?

Nash: One of the reasons, and this is supposition on my part, but because the nature of the Balkan wars and the role of Slobodan Milosevic in bringing about this conflagration and the cruelties that took place, that some people may have tended to excuse misbehavior by others, other than the Serbs. And I thought that was a serious mistake, and it had many arguments over even-handed approach to some of the post-conflict efforts.

Mullins: So they’d look the other way in terms of what the KLA was doing.

Nash: Well, looked the other way is such a clear cut expression. But the fact of the matter is, there was a prejudice against the Serbs to the favor of, quote, the freedom fighters of Kosovo.

Mullins: Is that the only thing they could do in terms of expedience to get the fighting to stop? Or are there other options? Presumably the United Nations, NATO, knew what the prime minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, was up to.

Nash: See, I don’t necessarily think that’s a safe assumption, Lisa. Because he certainly was not transparent in his misbehaviors. Nor was anyone else in their misbehaviors, other than at times some of the Serb forces. But the fact of the matter is, is that Kosovo was a continuation of circumstances that had begun seven, eight years earlier, nine years earlier in the greater Yugoslavia

Mullins: So at this point now, given what – at least what the charges are in terms of Hashim Thaçi, the prime minister of Kosovo, being part of an organized crime network that engaged in illegal trafficking, including organ harvesting, what becomes the obligation of Washington, of the United Nations, to deal now with this unsavory character that it’s been dealing with since the Kosovo war?

Nash: I would caution you that to date we’ve had more accusation than evidence. And so the path forward is the presentation of evidence and the examination of that evidence as to the likelihood its truthful.

Mullins: But clearly you are saying that this is not a good relationship, being a warm relationship.

Nash: Well, I would recommend more caution and a more reserved relationship while this is under investigation.

Mullins: That’s retired Army Major General William Nash, who was the U.N. civil administrator in Kosovo in the year 2000. He also commanded 25,000 soldiers from 12 nations, whose job it was to enforce the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia Herzegovina. We contacted the U.S. State Department for this story but we did not receive a comment from the Department in time for this broadcast.

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