NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of the United States (U.S.) European Command (USEUCOM), General Christopher Cavoli, testified before the U.S. Congress yesterday.
Cavoli began by stating that NATO is not a one-issue alliance and that the U.S. is not a one-issue country.
“It is important to recognize that other things are happening in Europe that are not good for U.S. national interests. Also, they are not disconnected from the war in Ukraine. The first thing we did was decide to do something within NATO regarding reserve forces,” Cavoli said.
He continued by stating that this primarily concerns the forces deployed within the mission in Kosovo, the Kosovo Force (KFOR), and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the EUFOR Operation Althea.
“After completing a full review of KFOR, we concluded that we need not only more forces but also stronger forces. We are in the process, and nations are quite generous. We will bring in more heavy equipment to the field, as well as more personnel,” Cavoli added.
He then addressed NATO’s reserve forces in the EUFOR Operation Althea.
“We are untangling the ties between the reserve forces for the EUFOR Operation Althea in BiH and the KFOR mission. It was an economy we could no longer afford. To share strategic forces in that area. France was particularly generous on this issue, and I thank them for it,” Cavoli concluded.
“France has put a battalion on operational status. Tensions are significantly higher this week. We have launched at least two focused missions to increase intelligence gathering to better understand what is happening in both countries,” Cavoli added.
In his statement, he said that ethnic tensions in BiH also have the potential to escalate and destabilize the Western Balkans region.
“Russia’s activities in stirring up tensions between ethnic Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats are aimed at weakening the country and preventing deeper ties with the European Union (EU) and NATO. Ethno-nationalist politics prevent BiH from adopting much-needed political, legal, and economic reforms that would advance its Euro-Atlantic integrations. The majority Serbian entity in BiH, Republika Srpska (RS), seeks to weaken state authorities and deteriorate relations with the EU and NATO while maintaining close ties with Russia,” Cavoli concluded, Klix.ba reports.
