What's Next for IFOR?

 
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
  
	BERGEN, Norway, Sept. 23 -- As NATO defense chiefs gathered 
here for their annual informal meeting, a flock of international 
reporters asked: "Will NATO stay in Bosnia after IFOR's mission 
ends Dec. 20?"
	While some European officials had already begun making 
public predictions, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said it 
was still too soon to tell.
	"I think there will clearly be a responsibility for the 
international community to work in Bosnia to sustain the progress 
that has been made there in the last year," Perry told reporters 
aboard his plane. "At this stage, I don't know the extent to 
which that is going to involve military activity, and I certainly 
don't know the extent to which it is going to involve U.S. 
participation."
	NATO members met Sept. 24 to 26 to discuss NATO's future 
role in Bosnia, expanding NATO/Russian relations, preparing NATO 
for post-Cold War operations and accepting new members into the 
16-nation security alliance.
	Perry was also to meet separately with several individual 
defense ministers and Russia’s new defense minister, Army Gen. 
Igor Rodionov.
	"We have to build NATO/Russian relations on the very 
positive experience we've had with Russia working with IFOR," 
Perry said. "Meeting Russia’s new defense minister and starting 
to build a relationship with him [like] I had with his 
predecessor is one very important objective."
	He said the NATO meetings would kick off a deliberate, step-
by-step process leading to a decision on Bosnia. Once NATO 
formally defines a mission, Perry said, U.S. officials will then 
make a decision as quickly as possible. "I want to reserve all of 
my judgments on what I recommend on U.S. action until I see what 
the mission is and what the force structure is," Perry said. 
"Everything hinges on that."
	On the eve of the meetings, a DoD spokesman said NATO 
officials would discuss prospects for the last three months of 
the implementation force mission, including setting up national-
level political institutions following the national elections. 
They would also talk about running municipal elections now set 
for late November, advancing arms control and how to promote 
further economic and political progress, he said.
	Ministers would consider the kinds of problems that may 
arise by year end, including the risk of a return to fighting, he 
said. They would outline potential alternative missions including 
preventing the war from restarting.
	The next step in the process would be for the North Atlantic 
Council, NATO's decision-making body, to task NATO military 
officials to develop alternative force structures needed to carry 
out various possible missions.
	The military planning is necessary, the spokesman said, 
before NATO members, including the United States, can decide if 
the situation is in their interest and if they will contribute to 
a military force, if a force is required.
	While NATO ministers prepared to discuss a possible future 
role in Bosnia, U.S. troops there had already nicknamed it. 
"They're calling it 'IFIVE.’" said Steven Komarow, a USA Today 
reporter who recently spent two weeks in Bosnia interviewing 
service members.

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