NATO prepares for end of ‘troika talks’

Gen. John Craddock, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, spoke Tuesday on NATO’s challenges in Afghanistan and Kosovo at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.


NATO prepares for end of ‘troika talks’
Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, December 5, 2007


WASHINGTON — Additional NATO troops are on standby for a Kosovo deployment if negotiations on the status of the province lead to violence, Army Gen. John Craddock, supreme allied commander, Europe, said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at the National Press Club, Craddock said NATO leaders have been busy planning for the Dec. 10 end of the “troika talks,” that could determine whether Kosovo will be independent or remain part of Serbia.

Envoys from the European Union, the United States and Russia — the so-called “troika” — have overseen four months of talks between rival Serbs and Kosovo Albanians over the Serbian province’s fate.

“We, NATO, have prepared for most eventualities,” Craddock said.

“At one end of the spectrum is planning for some form of ordered future status for Kosovo. At the other end of the spectrum is planning for widespread instability.

“I’m not willing to hazard a guess to which one of those eventualities, or combination, will arise,” Craddock said.


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