[autom.vertaling] Troepen om Bosnia in 2004 te verlaten (en)

US peacekeeping troops in Bosnia might be recalled next year, said a US military commander for Europe at a Pentagon news conference.

Troops entered Bosnia almost eight years ago.

If the present situation continues in Bosnia "during 2004, we could have a different footprint there than we currently have", said Marine Gen. James L. Jones, who is also Nato's military chief, writes the Washington Post.

Eight years later

During the Clinton administration in 1995 about 20,000 US solders entered the northern Balkan nation. At first, they were supposed to stay in Bosnia for only a year.

"We're seeing in Bosnia a real potential for ending the military mission there and transitioning to ... a presence that will be more based on establishing police forces as a fundamental enforcer of the rule of law", announced General Jones eight years later.

However, General Jones stressed it was too early to talk about a plan to end the mission in Kosovo. Kosovo still requires military presence at least in 2004, General Jones concluded.