A US Defense Department official spoke to Radio Free Europe after being asked for comment in connection with information by the American newspaper "Politico" about reducing NATO missions in former war zones, including the mission in Kosovo (KFOR). The official stated that there is currently no change in the deployment of US troops, BTA reported.
V. „Politico“ wrote yesterday that the US is putting pressure on NATO for a serious reboot, including ending the mission in Iraq. Four diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, also said Washington wanted to scale back the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo (KFOR).
A NATO official told Radio Free Europe that the United States plays a crucial role in supporting sustainable security in Kosovo and regional stability. The official said that US authorities are the ones who can provide more information.
The NATO official recalled that the United States currently participates in the NATO mission in Kosovo with about 600 troops and leads Regional Command - East. This command contributes to the daily activities of KFOR in various ways, including through patrols, exercises, meetings with representatives of all local communities and support for reconstruction and economic development projects.
Radio Free Europe reported that it had requested comment on the information from “Politico“ from the Kosovo government and the Kosovo Ministry of Defense and is awaiting responses.
The publication by “Politico“ states that in recent months Washington has lobbied to reduce the number of troops in NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and to end the mission in Iraq. According to the article, the US has also pressured its allies not to invite Ukraine and the Alliance's four official Indo-Pacific partners – Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, at the NATO summit in July 2026 in Ankara, the four NATO diplomats said.
According to information from the Alliance's official website, used for RFE/RL's schedule, NATO forces in Kosovo currently number 4,767 people, and the countries that have a contingent there are a total of 33. For comparison, after the end of the Kosovo war (1998-1999), NATO troops numbered 50,000 people, the media outlet recalls.
The United States currently has the second largest contingent in KFOR with 590 servicemen, ranking after Italy, whose soldiers in the NATO mission in Kosovo are 907 in number.
In third place in terms of number within KFOR are the Hungarian military, which total 408 people, followed by Turkey (382 soldiers), Germany (308 people), Albania (256 soldiers) and others.
The “Bondsteel“ camp near the southeastern Kosovo town of Ferizaj (Uroševac) serves as the largest US military base in the Balkans, RFE/RL notes.
For Kosovo, allied relations with the United States - a country that contributed to its independence and state-building - are essential.
KFOR is the third responding element for security in Kosovo within a three-tier response mechanism, where the Kosovo Police is the first element and EULEX is the second. NATO's peacekeeping force in Kosovo is responsible, among other things, for security along the border between Kosovo and Serbia.
Serbia does not recognize the independence of its former province of Kosovo, which was declared in 2008. The two countries have been engaged in EU-mediated dialogue to normalize relations since 2011 and have reached several agreements, but not all have been implemented. Progress in this process is key to both countries' EU membership aspirations.