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NATO is helping to bring stability to the Balkans by leading a peace support operation in Kosovo and assisting the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia1 in reforming their armed forces.
The Alliance’s overall strategy for the Western Balkans aims to consolidate stability in south east Europe and facilitate the integration of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia* into Euro-Atlantic structures.
NATO’s involvement in the region marked a turning point in the Alliance’s history: a move beyond its Cold War task of defending members’ territories and into crisis management outside its traditional borders.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, the Alliance intervened with force to end conflicts and then deployed troops to prevent a return to hostilities and build the conditions in which a peace process could take root.
NATO terminated its peace support operation (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2004. Two years later in December 2006, the country joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme.
The NATO-led peace support operation in Kosovo (KFOR) is ongoing with a deployment of approximately 15 000 troops.
Between 2001 and 2003, the Alliance helped head off hostilities in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia* through diplomacy and the preventive deployment of troops to fulfill several tasks: oversee the disarming of insurgents, protect international monitors and generally help create the pre-conditions for a process of stabilization and reconciliation.
The country has been a member of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme since 1995.
NATO has acted both in support of and in partnership with the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations, as well as other organizations.
NATO’s involvement in the Balkans dates back to 1992. In the first instance, the Alliance monitored and enforced a UN-imposed arms embargo against the whole of the former Yugoslavia as well as specific economic sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. NATO subsequently monitored and enforced a flight ban over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Political guidance for all NATO's military operations is provided by the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s senior political decision-making body. Strategic command and control is exercised by NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium.
