War in the Balkans: The Balkan Question

KEY ISSUES BEHIND THE WAR EXPLAINED

Why is Nato not arming the KLA?

ANY FORMAL decision to arm the KLA would have to be authorised by the US, which has specifically ruled that out.

Until it persuaded the KLA to sign the Rambouillet agreement, Washington regarded the KLA as little more than a terrorist grouping, too weak and undisciplined to be an effective fighting force. Those suspicions persist. Washington also fears victory for the KLA would strengthen Kosovan claims for independence from Serbia, a change of border that the US fears would lead to a free-for-all in the Balkans.

The precedents are also not encouraging. Arming Nicaraguan guerrillas without congressional approval got Reagan into the biggest trouble of his presidency; the arms supplied to the Afghan mujahidin following the Soviet invasion have subsequently been used by the Talaban and may have assisted anti-US terrorists. Official denials, however, do not mean the KLA will get no US-funded weapons: Washington repeatedly denied it had helped arm the Bosnian Muslims but was forced eventually to admit that it had.