U.S. Troops Likely To Stay On In Bosnia ‘Emerging Consensus’ To Extend Deadline, Says Clinton Official

The Clinton administration is near to concluding that U.S. troops must stay in Bosnia beyond its self-imposed June deadline for withdrawing them, a top administration official said Saturday.

“Within the administration, there’s what I would call an emerging consensus that a continued American leadership role and a continued military strategy will be necessary to implement the Dayton accords,” said Matthew Daley, the No. 2 official in charge of implementing the 1995 agreement that stopped ethnic warfare in former Yugoslavia.

“We’re not going to walk away,” Daley said in an interview. “I’m confident of that.”

Daley said debate continues over what the troops’ role will be, pointing to efforts to return refugees and establish democratic institutions.

Asked if troops will be needed to implement the goals, Daley said again: “That’s part of what I would call an emerging consensus.”

Daley commented after he spoke at a conference to mark the second anniversary of conclusion of the Dayton pact, which set rules for the belligerents to follow in Bosnia and sent in NATO-led forces to enforce them.

Last month, Robert Gelbard, the top U.S. official handling Bosnia, testified to Congress about the need for a prolonged mission in Bosnia. He underscored the importance of a U.S. role, but stopped short of saying a new mission should include U.S. ground troops.

The international Stabilization Force consists of about 32,000 troops, 8,500 of them American.

On Saturday, Daley repeated Gelbard’s assertion that the United States is looking for European allies to “share a greater part of the burden.”

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said he has no doubt that the administration already has decided to keep forces in Bosnia.

“I think the only people who don’t know are the American people and the Congress,” said Roberts, who drafted a compromise this fall that requires Clinton to justify an extension of the deadline but did not cut off funding for the mission.

Roberts agreed that war is likely to break out again if U.S. and NATO forces leave Bosnia. But he said the American troops have no clear mission and no certainty of how long it will take to achieve.

The length of the Bosnia mission has been at issue since U.S. forces arrived there two years ago. Originally billed as a one-year mission, it was extended until June 1998 despite congressional misgivings.

Speaking at Saturday’s forum, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, said genuine discontent about the cost, now estimated at $7.4 billion, and the mission will combine with politics in 1998, an election year.

Glenn emphasized that a decision must be made by March 1 to give the military time to pull out by June if necessary.

“To exit right now would be a tragedy,” he said. “I’m not sure that view will prevail on Capitol Hill.”