Washington expressed support for the decision of the authorities of the breakaway republic of Kosovo on the transformation of their own security forces to a professional army to NATO standards with a limited mandate. This was stated by the United States Embassy in Pristina.
The embassy stated in particular, US “support the transformation of Kosovo's security forces into professional, multinational, NATO-interoperable armed forces with a limited mandate of territorial self-defense”. At the same time, the US Embassy added, what “no country can veto this transformation”.
Earlier, Kosovo decided to transform the Kosovo security forces (SBC) to Army. The relevant bills were approved by the parliamentary committee on internal affairs and defense of the self-proclaimed republic and sent to deputies. Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, together with his supporters, supported the bill, and Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said, what “America blessed” creation of the Kosovo army according to NATO standards.
At the moment, Kosovo does not have its own army, its functions are performed by security forces. Belgrade opposes the creation of Kosovo's own army. Kosovo Albanians declared independence from Serbia unilaterally 2008 year. The self-proclaimed republic is not recognized by Serbia, Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Spain, Greece and a number of other states