In Kosovo, guerrillas bite the hand that saved them

The KLA hasn't turned out quite as bad as the Taliban, the last bunch of rebels the United States gave a helping hand, but it's trying.
After NATO and the United States saved ethnic Albanians in Kosovo from ethnic cleansing by the Serbs, it would have been best if they had just gone about the business of rebuilding Kosovo. Instead, they're doing their best to destabilize neighboring countries, especially Macedonia.
The Kosovar Liberation Army was supposed to disband after the cease-fire that followed the 1999 air war between NATO and Yugoslavia. But instead of disbanding, it just dropped its old name and took up a new guerrilla effort, aimed not at protecting ethnic Albanians from aggression, but at realizing a dream of a greater Albania.
History plays some ugly tricks on the United States.
Good idea gone bad: Two decades ago, the United States helped a hearty band of Afghan rebels in their fight against troops of the Soviet Union. It seemed like a good idea at the time, especially given the alternative of letting the Soviet Union prop up a puppet regime in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately for history, and most unfortunately for the Afghan people, the rebels who took power went on to evolve into the Taliban, one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The Taliban practices an exceedingly intolerant form of Islam. Women have been relegated to less than second-class status. Medieval forms of punishment are the order of the day. And in recent weeks, Taliban vandals have destroyed priceless historical renderings of Buddha because they consider the centuries-old art work to be examples of idolatry.
This was the thanks that the United States got for its aid to the rebels.
Let's hope that history does not eventually show that the United States' choice in friends was as bad in Kosovo as it was in Afghanistan. Right now, we're not encouraged.
Art of the deal: Ethnic Albanian guerrilla leaders agreed last week to a cease-fire after NATO forces stepped aside and allowed Serbian forces to engage the guerrillas. But at the same time that guerrilla leaders were making the best deal they could to protect themselves, they made a point of saying that they shouldn't be held to account for the actions of forces over whom they have no control.
Thus, they seem to get the best of both worlds.
Meanwhile, ethnic Albanian rebels are using Kosovo as a base for insurgencies in Macedonia and a strip of southern Serbia. The irony is that Albanians in Macedonia are living peacefully with the Slavic majority, and have certainly not asked for any "help" from the guerrillas.
The violence, and the effect it has on the stability of the entire region, is so troublesome, that Lt. Gen. Carlo Cabigiosu, NATO's commander in Kosovo, said last week that, "The threat is not coming any more from the [Yugoslav Army]."
The threat is now coming from the people NATO befriended, the people NATO saved.