ABSTRACT
The withdrawal of American troops stationed in Europe would run parallel to a reinforcement of the European military component of NATO. Thus, US military and political disengagement would allow a more European NATO to play a prominent role in Europe’s security affairs. The vast majority of Western European statesmen were convinced that after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1990, and its sudden absence as a military threat to European security, post-Yalta Europe would seek a new strategic partnership with the US. Once the US asserted its leadership by taking away the Balkan file from its UN and EU partners, it quickly succeeded in bringing a halt to the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The European Union and Russia sought to resolve the conflict solely by negotiations, which clearly meant forfeiting a significant portion of the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Bosnian Serbs.
