Clinton Sees Continued U.S. Peacekeeping Role

The United States’ continued refusal to pay its debt to the United Nations makes it more likely U.S. troops, rather than U.N. peacekeepers, will be used to police overseas crises, administration officials suggested Thursday.

The Clinton administration considers U.N. peacekeeping to be one of its principal options for handling international conflicts, said Assistant Secretary of State Princeton Lyman.

Depending on the degree to which vital U.S. interests are involved, “we may rely on diplomacy or resort to direct U.S. military action,” he said. “What U.N. peacekeeping provides us is a middle ground between those ends of the spectrum and an agreed structure for sharing the responsibility with others.”