Miskeljin: The question is whether the US, with its new foreign policy, has an interest in investing in the military industry in Kosovo

Marko Miskeljin, a researcher at the Center for Social Stability, told Kosovo Online that at a time when negotiations are underway to end the war in Ukraine and with the new US foreign policy, the question arises whether America has an interest in investing in Kosovo’s military industry. He also pointed out that it remains unclear what the US would gain from a potential defense cooperation agreement with Kosovo.

The Government of Kosovo recently approved the initiative to conclude a Framework Agreement on Defense Cooperation between Kosovo and the United States. Miskeljin notes that it is hard to imagine that the new authorities in Washington would unconditionally support the administration in Pristina, which has caused problems for their predecessors in terms of escalating tensions and which supported the opposing side in the US elections.

“It is hard to believe that not only Richard Grenell, who was heavily involved in conflicts with both Albin Kurti and other members of the administration, but also other individuals from Trump’s campaign, will easily overlook, for example, the selfie that Kurti took at the Democratic Convention with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. The open support that the Democratic side received before the elections will have deeper consequences, especially for these kinds of potentially pre-agreed agreements,” Miskeljin said.

He explains that it is difficult to say concretely what might result from a potential agreement, which is still in the initiation phase from Pristina’s side, with no information yet coming from Washington about the document.

“Perhaps everything will depend mostly on who forms the next government. It is possible that it will involve some training or, as in the case of Kosovo’s cooperation with Turkey, the construction of specific military capacities or factories, though it is hard to speculate. However, if a larger form of cooperation emerges, I think the hardest thing to expect is that it would resemble what the Turks did, considering the messages coming from Washington regarding all of Europe, not just the situation in Kosovo and Metohija,” Miskeljin concluded.