Western Balkan groups call for US engagement to counter Serbia | Al Jazeera

Leaders and advocacy organisations from Albanian-American, Bosnian-American and Montenegrin-American communities have called on the US to commit to a stronger presence in the Western Balkans region amid “growing militancy of the government of Serbia”.

In an open letter published on Monday – addressed to the US Senate and House committees on foreign relations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan – the signatories expressed alarm about what it called Serbia’s growing aggression towards Kosovo, but also increasingly towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

“This is a matter of utmost concern to the US because it directly imperils the peace and stability of the Western Balkans region and … in Europe as a whole,” the letter said.

The signatories said the “most alarming scenes” took place in Kosovo in late September, when the Serbian government of President Aleksandar Vucic deployed tanks, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles close to the border, after “Serbia reneged on a licence plate agreement which the EU negotiated with Serbia and Kosovo almost a decade ago”....etc