In Serbia, US general speaks of 'friendship'

BELGRADE - America's top military officer traveled yesterday to the only country in Europe ever bombed by NATO to seek increased cooperation between the armed forces of the United States and Serbia and a lessening of tensions over an independent Kosovo.

Admiral Mike Mullen is the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to visit Serbia. Yesterday, he described the military relationship between the two nations as "a friendship that has weathered many trials and has grown stronger and stronger."

Mullen and his Serbian counterpart, General Zdravko Ponos, both spoke appreciatively of the growing numbers of Serbian military officers attending war colleges in the United States, as well as an unusual program in which the Ohio National Guard trains with Serbian units.

But the two top officers agreed that Kosovo was a divisive issue better left to politicians to resolve.

"Serbia and the United States have totally different opinions on Kosovo," Ponos said as he, too, stressed the importance of increasing cooperation between the American armed forces and those of Serbia.

Mullen agreed, saying, "On the military side, there is much work we are doing and can do to ensure we have a safe and stable region."

Mullen knows Serbia's pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, from a previous tour of duty in Europe when the admiral was commander of the NATO Joint Force Command in Naples and the two had a private, one-on-one meeting.

American officials believe Tadic supports closer ties with Europe, but they acknowledge that a deeply felt nationalism inspires continuing anger over the support the United States and other European nations gave Kosovo, a largely ethnic Albanian province, in endorsing its declaration of independence from Serbia in February. That anger only compounded lingering frustration over the American-led NATO bombing campaign in 1999 to halt Serbian attacks on Kosovar Albanians.

Under Tadic's leadership, Serbia in 2006 joined NATO's Partnership for Peace Program, a stepping stone to full alliance membership.

However, public opinion polls here indicate that only a small percentage of the population supports full integration with NATO.