Looking Eastward, Rumsfeld Backs Albania’s Bid to Join NATO

TIRANA, Albania -- Saying the emerging democracies of the former communist bloc are shifting the European center of gravity eastward, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday voiced strong support for the bid of predominantly Muslim Albania to gain membership in NATO.

Visiting the capital of this small, rugged country on the Adriatic Sea, Rumsfeld thanked Albania’s leaders for supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the campaign to unseat the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld, who is on a four-day visit to Europe, voiced support for Albania’s efforts to “proceed along the path toward full ... membership over the years ahead” in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Last month, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell visited Albania to sign an agreement to support its entry, along with Croatia and Macedonia, into the alliance.

Albania, whose population of 3.5 million is more than 70% Muslim, has been a vocal supporter of the war to oust Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq, in stark contrast to much of the rest of the Islamic world.

The country offered the United States the use of its airspace, territorial waters and land routes during the war, and American refueling tanker craft flew out of some Albanian air bases. A small Albanian force of about 70 light infantry soldiers is now stationed with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Mosul, in northern Iraq.

The peacekeeping force in Afghanistan also includes a small contingent of Albanians.

With an economy still largely dependent on farming and a population raised under communism, Albania would not seem on its face to have much to offer the U.S. But it is among the Eastern European countries the U.S. is interested in using to position troops and equipment, as American forces around the world are reshuffled to confront new threats.

Albania’s couple hundred miles of coastline along the Adriatic Sea may be well suited to new ports where U.S. ships and armaments could stand ready to be deployed to trouble spots, defense officials say.

And as the strategic map of Europe is transformed, countries such as Albania are beginning to interest U.S. policymakers for what they offer diplomatically.

“Albania has aligned itself on the side of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism and those who commit it,” Albanian Defense Minister Pandeli Majko said.