No troop cut before Kosovo status resolution-NATO

SOFIA, Apr 28: NATO has no plans to cut troop levels in Kosovo before the end of talks on the future status of the UN protectorate, alliance ministers agreed today.

A now 17,000-strong NATO-led force, KFOR, has been keeping the peace in Kosovo since 1999, but with the US army stretched by the Iraq war and operations in Afghanistan, the Pentagon has been under pressure to reduce its commitment.

The future of the mission was discussed at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Sofia that was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a NATO spokesman said.

''There was a general sense that KFOR troop levels should remain at current levels till the status talks finish,'' James Appathurai told reporters.

Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority has been pushing for independence from Serbia in U.N.-led negotiations in Vienna, seven years after NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities against civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

The United Nations took control of Kosovo in June 1999 and does everything from maintaining law and order and supporting reconstruction of the province to basic civilian administrative tasks. A decision on the eventual status of Kosovo could be made this year.

Reuters