NATO postpones Kosovo troop cut

NATO has postponed its planned troop reduction in Kosovo as the security situation in the Serb-dominated north remains "volatile," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said. "We have, for the time being, postponed any decision to further reduce the number of KFOR troops in Kosovo" he told reporters during his short visit to Kosovo. NATO-led peacekeeping forces (KFOR) have been present in Kosovo since the end of the clashes between Serb armed forces and pro-independence Albanians in 1998-1999. Since early 2010, NATO has cut its troops from 15,000 to the current 6,000, aiming for a further reduction in the military presence in Kosovo to 2,500 this year, depending on security conditions. The cabinet of Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has offered the participation of its security forces in NATO and other international peacekeeping operations.