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Nato-led peacekeepers have been deployed to deal with Serb attacks on two border crossings in Kosovo, and a British quick-reaction force has been put on standby to assist the newly-independent state if needed. But can British troops cope with another conflict?
The Welsh Guards will form the UK's Kosovo quick reaction force
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The Conservatives and some former military chiefs fear not.
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said if troops were sent to the region there would be "very little left" to deal with operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Currently, 200 members of the British forces are serving in Kosovo, out of a total of 15,000 Nato troops in the region.
But a quick reaction force, formed by 600 members of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was put on standby on Saturday, part of the UK's commitment to Nato-led peacekeeping in the area.
"If we have to deploy extra troops to Kosovo there will be very little left to deal with any eventualities in Afghanistan or Iraq," Mr Fox said.
"It's incredible that we are now in this position when ministers knew months ago that we were due to provide the operational reserve, yet did nothing about it whilst our existing commitments are ongoing.
"This is a classic example of ministers failing to plan properly for the future.”
'Obligation to Kosovo'
Kosovo had been under United Nations administration since 1999 and declared independence from Serbia on Sunday following a protracted and bloody conflict between ethnic Serbs and Albanians stretching back centuries.
Serbia argues Kosovo's declaration violates international law, but Britain, along with the US, France, Germany and Italy, have recognised the new state.
Should violence erupt again in the near future, the responsibility for providing back-up will fall to the UK.
Nato operates a rotating response force, with one member state setting aside troops every six months. The UK took over this responsibility on 1 January.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said Nato and the EU had "an obligation to stand by Kosovo" if hostilities broke out and it was "right that we have forces on standby ready to go at a moment's notice".
But Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC he believed extra British troops would not be required.
He acknowledged there were risks in the present situation, but said he had been reassured there was sufficient military presence by UK diplomats in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
"They reported a tense situation in Serbia, a euphoric one in Kosovo, but one which did not lead them to believe we were going to see a breakdown in order which would go beyond the current Nato requirement," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
'No additional pressures'
Cdr John Muxworthy, chief executive of the UK National Defence Association (UKNDA), a group of former military leaders and politicians, said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would be "heaving a sigh of relief" that more troops were not needed because the British armed forces were in "chronic crisis".
Cdr Muxworthy said that, although it was good news if British troops did not have further commitments in Kosovo, if the situation deteriorated and required more UK military support, there should be the manpower to provide it.
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[We]...do not anticipate that the deployment of the ORF will place any significant additional pressures on our other overseas operations
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"There are going to be more and more of these problems and there is no quick fix if you run out of troops or run out of helicopters. There are no sticking plaster solutions."
A spokesman for the MoD said it had not received a request from Nato to deploy its quick-reaction force, known as the Operational Reserve Force (ORF), but if one was received, the assigned battalion would be deployed.
Reacting to accusations of overstretch, he said the government was "fully committed" to its role within the Kosovo Force (K-For) and could "manage the deployment of the ORF battalion".
"This is a long standing commitment that we have been prepared to meet since 1 January 2008 and as such do not anticipate that the deployment of the ORF will place any significant additional pressures on our other overseas operations."
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