NATO chief begins meetings in Kosovo, welcomed by President Vjosa Osmani

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has begun meetings in Kosovo with senior state leaders.

He was initially welcomed by President Vjosa Osmani, and later in the day he will meet with Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Rutte said in an interview with Al Jazeera Balkans the day before that Kosovo is a very important country and that NATO has a significant presence through KFOR.

"There were elections, we will see how the new government is formed, but this is part of the democratic process. There is nothing wrong with that," Rutte said, adding that the alliance makes continuous efforts to ensure that this country is in its best shape.

The NATO chief said days ago that stability in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia is in the interest of everyone in the Western military alliance, and that he sees no reason to believe there could be any dramatic change in terms of American commitment to NATO.

Ivan Vejvoda, a researcher at the Institute for Humanities in Vienna, told Radio Free Europe that he believes Rutte will use this visit to offer guarantees that the European contingent within the alliance's mission in Kosovo, KFOR, will remain there, regardless of any movement of US military forces.

The issue of reconsidering the US position in Europe has begun to circulate since statements made by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in February, when he said that Europeans cannot expect the US military presence on the continent to last forever, while calling on Europeans to increase defense spending.

Even US President Donald Trump has called for Europeans to pay more in this sector, raising questions about whether they would now be able to defend the US, as NATO's Article 5 requires.

The US has around 100,000 troops in Europe, of which 600 are stationed in Kosovo, as part of KFOR, which has a total of around 4,600 members.

The US Department of Defense told Radio Free Europe a few days ago that for now there are no planned changes in terms of the positioning of their forces.

Rutte's visit to Kosovo follows his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 10, where he gave the message that the alliance will not allow "the hard-won peace to be jeopardized."/ rel

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