U.S. State Department Takes a Dim View
Iranian Ties Between Sarajevo and Tehran
(WASHINGTON, March 8—Reuters)A private contractor to arm and train Bosnian government troops to make them a match for the Serbs will be named soon but the plan will not go ahead until Iranian forces leave Bosnia, U.S. officials said Thursday. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said U.S. experts had completed talks with Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation on its military needs after NATO troops implementing a peace agreement leave later this year."I think very soon the Bosnian federation will name a private U.S. contractor to manage the equip-and-train program," Burns told a news briefing.
Turkey will host an international conference in Ankara March 15 for countries wishing to provide funds and equipment for the program, designed to rectify the Serb dominance in heavy weaponry during the 42-month Bosnia war. But Burns said no equipment would be sent to the Bosnian government until Washington was sure that all mujahideen—fighters from Iran and other Islamic countries who helped the Bosnian Muslims—had left the country.
"We're taking these steps to build a framework of the equip-and-train program," he said. "But we're not going to implement it until the Bosnian government proves to us that these Iranians and other radical fighters who pose a threat to our forces have left."
The continued presence of some mujahideen despite Bosnian government promises that they would go two months ago has caused friction with Washington. Burns said there were still 100 or 200 there out of an original total of up to 2,000. Though broadly sympathetic to the Bosnian Muslims, the United States has looked askance at their ties with Iran, and Burns said it took "a very dim view" of a visit to Tehran earlier this week by Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic.
"They will rue the day that they associated themselves too closely with the Iranian government," he said.
"The Bosnians may believe that Iran was helpful at some point during their war," he said. "Iran cannot help them now. There are 60,000 NATO troops helping to ensure the peace... They don't need a few hundred Iranians."
Other U.S. officials were skeptical, however, of U.S. press reports that Bosnian forces are being trained in Iran. The equip-and-train program, which helped persuade the Bosnian government to sign peace accords last November, is being run by former Pentagon official James Pardew.
U.S. and Bosnian military officials held talks in Washington last week on the program, which is expected to need at least $800 million to bring government forces up to the Serb level, according to U.S. estimates. Three U.S. firms are competing for the contract. But some European countries are uneasy about the deal, fearful that the West will be seen as taking sides.
Burns dismissed suggestions that, in the absence of U.S. consent, the Bosnians could equip and train themselves with weapons supplied by other countries.
"They've come to us for assistance to lead that effort and we're doing so," he said. "I don't believe they will be successful without the support and participation of the United States. They don't have the money... and I don't think that there'll be many nations inclined without a positive signal from the United States," he added.
U.S. State Department Briefing for March 7, 1996
In Tehran, Prime Mininster Says Bosnia Will Remember Iran
Berserkistan Background on Iranian Training Camps in Bosnia
Iran Online
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