Garčević Weighs In on KFOR Drawdown Talk and Evolving U.S.–EU Relations
Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School, was featured in an article “Talk of KFOR Drawdown Reveals a Changing US Approach to the Balkans,” published by European Western Balkans on March 21.
The article examines the possibility of the United States reducing its troop presence in Kosovo. Although NATO officials maintain that no changes to the KFOR mission are currently under consideration, analysts suggest that the debate itself reflects a broader shift in US foreign policy toward the Balkans. They point to a departure from a decades-long commitment to multilateral Euro-Atlantic cooperation, with the US increasingly prioritizing a more unilateral pursuit of its strategic interests.
The article quotes Garcevic as arguing that such developments signal a growing US inclination to act independently, alongside a diminishing interest in coordinating closely with the European Union. In the case of the proposed KFOR drawdown, he suggests that the US is not only about encouraging European allies to assume greater responsibility for regional security. Rather, it is about the fact that the US and the EU do not work in synergy anymore, as has been the case so far.
The full article can be read here.
Vesko Garčević is a professor of the practice of international studies at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and the director of the Center for the Study of Europe. An expert on multilateral issues, Garčević is the co-author of Montenegro and Serbia: A Velvet Divorce? (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) which explores the divergent past between Serbia and Montenegro between 1988 and 2023. To read more about his work and accomplishments, visit his faculty profile.