{
  "id": "RL30906",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30906",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 102080,
      "date": "2001-03-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:25:45.294941",
      "title": "Bosnia and Herzegovina: Background on U.S. Policy Concerns",
      "summary": "In 1995, after over three years of conflict, the United States brokered the Dayton Peace Accords,\nending the war in Bosnia. The accords retained Bosnia as a single country, divided into two\nlargely-autonomous \"entities.\" A NATO-led peacekeeping force and other international\norganizations are trying to help implement the accord and bring stability to the country.\n  During the Clinton Administration, the premise of U.S. policy in Bosnia and the region was\nthat the stability of the Balkans is important to stability in Europe as a whole, which the\nAdministration viewed as a vital U.S. interest. During the 2000 Presidential campaign, candidate\nGeorge W. Bush called for a U.S. withdrawal from Balkans peacekeeping, leaving the task up to\nEuropean countries. However, Administration officials appear to have modified their views since\ntaking office. In February 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that while the United States\nwants to reduce over time the number of U.S. troops in the region, the United States would not \"cut\nand run.\" He stressed that United States and European forces in the Balkans \"went in together, [and]\nwe'll come out together.\"\n  The U.S. deployment to Bosnia has been controversial in Congress. Critics say this mission and\nothers like it are open-ended, have overly ambitious, fuzzy goals that amount to \"nation-building,\"\nand that suchmissions sap the readiness of U.S. forces. Nevertheless, Congress has regularly\nprovided funding for the Bosnia deployment over the past five years. Repeated efforts by some\nMembers to set deadlines for withdrawal or tie a withdrawal to specific conditions have not become\nlaw. Congress has imposed reporting requirements on many issues, including the impact of Balkans\npeacekeeping missions on the readiness of U.S. forces, burdensharing with U.S. allies, and the\nestablishment of benchmarks to measure progress on the ground. \n  The United States and its allies have set the goal of a self-sustaining peace in Bosnia, defined\nas a peace that will likely continue to exist after peacekeeping forces have left. Benchmarks set to\nmeasure progress toward this goal include military stability, improved public security and law\nenforcement, democratic governance, economic development, an independent media and judiciary,\nreducing crime and corruption, refugee returns, bringing war criminals to justice, and reintegrating\nthe strategic Brcko district. Supporters of the current approach of the international community in\nBosnia say the slow, steady accumulation of progress in implementing the peace accord is changing\nthe situation in Bosnia for the better. Critics charge that most of this progress has come as a result\nof the international community's browbeating or direct intervention. They assert that, lacking a real\ndomestic constituency, this \"progress\" is by definition not self-sustaining. The international\ncommunity has several possible options in Bosnia. It could continue the present course, or reduce\nthe level of attention and resources devoted to Bosnia. Other options include a formal revision the\npeace accords to move openly toward partition on Bosnia, or re-interpreting or amending the accords\nto promote Bosnia's unity. Acting apart from the international community, the United States retains\nthe option of withdrawing unilaterally from Bosnia.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "European Affairs",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}