U.S. Aid to Continue for Balkans

Feb. 2 -- Kosovo Albanian leaders, with others from the Balkan region, came to Washington for a first meeting with new U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Powell assured the foreign leaders that the United States would not "cut and run" from the Balkans as part of a global reviewof U.S. forces— and he would not do so without consultation with European allies, although the policy is under review.

The State Department also warned rioting ethnic Albanians to "cease immediately" their violent demonstrations against peacekeepers in Kosovo. The pronouncements came as two leaders from the area talked with Secretary of State Colin Powell about fears the United States might withdraw from the NATO-led force trying to keep peace in theethnically divided region.

The pronouncements came as two leaders from the area talked withSecretary of State Colin Powell about fears the United States mightwithdraw from the NATO-led force trying to keep peace.

Powell was said to have told Macedonian President BorisTrajkovski and Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana in separatemeetings that the U.S. policy in the region was under review butthat there was no immediate plan for a U.S. pullout.

Geoana is the current chairman of the 54-nation security watchdog Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The United States is a member of this organization, and Powell and Geoana most likely will be working together more in the future.

"The secretary said to him what he said in testimony andelsewhere: He's not looking to cut and run," State Departmentspokesman Richard Boucher said after Powell met with Geoana of Romania.

President George W. Bush said late last month that he sought to allay fears of a swift U.S. exit. He said: "I have never said upon swearing in, we'll pull out of the Balkans. I've always said we will work in consultation with our European allies to convince them that they need to carry more of the peacekeeping role."Fears Mounting About U.S. Role