Wednesday, September 22, 1999 Published at 13:16 GMT 14:16 UK
Nato assesses Kosovo lessons
Belgrade under fire: Now Nato is looking to the future
By Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus
Defence ministers studying the lessons of Kosovo are finding that the war demonstrated several shortcomings in the Nato alliance.
While Nato is pleased with its performance in the campaign it is now turning its attention to resolving those problems.
And in a conflict where maintaining the political cohesion of the alliance was paramount, this imbalance of contributions between Europe and the US was a source of potential strain.
The Americans, along with key European Nato members like Britain, believe that Europe must do more.
US Defence Secretary William Cohen told his colleagues that Europe spends about 60% of America's input on defence, but gets about 10% of the capability.
He said Europe needs to spend its money more effectively with less duplication in areas like logistics and support.
There remains no single reason for the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.
Nato's victory depended on several factors, notably:
But for the defence ministers meeting in Toronto identifying the problems raised during the Kosovo conflict was easy. Solving them will be much harder.
Nato hopes to designate at least a small number of areas where progress can be made, with flexibility and the capacity for different national forces to operate effectively alongside each other the keynotes for any future conflict.