Future Roles and Missions of the Kosovo Security Force

Sustainable peace in the Western Balkans still remains to be desired. Ethnic impatience and nationalistic extremism are still strong and capable of ruining the peace achieved. Further engagement of the International Community is critical to achieving lasting peace. Further development of the Kosovo Security Force KSF is necessary to make Kosovo a fully functional country and society, and also is the best guarantee of preserving the peace in Kosovo and the Western Balkans. Kosovos government and NATOs Kosovo Force KFOR need to focus more on developing the KSF. The KSF should be engaged immediately in security tasks, in particular with the KFOR. The KSF should be developed as a strong defense force that will not threaten any neighboring country, but will have the capabilities it needs to defend Kosovo and its people. Key lessons learned are that a strong KSF is best way to preserve peace in the region, and that there is a critical need to speed up development of the KSF and NATO support in this process.