US Embassy sharply responded to Helez: You are shifting blame for your own failure to lead the Ministry of Defense

(Patria) - The United States is disappointed by the comments of the BiH Minister of Defense Zukan Helez in an FTV interview on September 17. Judging by them, it seems the minister misunderstood the ambassador's blog about BiH, NATO, and defense reform, the US Embassy announced.

"The United States strongly supports BiH's aspirations for NATO membership. We are proud of our work with the Armed Forces of BiH (AFBiH), which, as the ambassador emphasized, consist of men and women of all nationalities, patriots who have chosen to serve their country. As the ambassador pointed out in his blog, these men and women are poorly supported by their civilian political leadership in recent years, as they have chosen to focus their time and energy on ambitious statements of support for BiH's NATO membership, rather than doing the hard work needed to strengthen BiH's partnership with NATO and bring the country closer to membership.

The ambassador clearly stated that the obstruction of this year's Reform Program by ministers from SNSD is inappropriate, especially considering the legal obligations of all ministers and deputy ministers to “carry out the necessary activities within their constitutional and legal jurisdictions, with the aim of Bosnia and Herzegovina joining the NATO alliance”. The failure of these individuals to do their job in accordance with the law is a matter that can best be resolved by BiH's rule of law institutions.

The problem for BiH is not the status of the reform program for 2023 or 2024, or the name of the commission responsible for its development. The problem is the non-implementation of reforms. BiH has approved more than one reform program, but almost no progress has been made in their implementation. As stated in the ambassador's blog, there are many failed defense reforms, such as those listed in the 2016 Defense Review, the implementation of which does not depend on the approval of the annual reform program. These reforms have failed because the people at the head of the Ministry have not rolled up their sleeves and gotten down to the hard work associated with implementation.

The ambassador highlighted several of them in his blog, including reforms related to the procurement process, human resource management, and the sale of surplus ammunition and weapons, as well as the destruction of unsafe ammunition and weapons. There are many more.

Minister Helez decided to respond to the ambassador's blog yesterday by, among other things, attacking members of the NATO Headquarters staff in Sarajevo, accusing them of misleading the ambassador and the United States. This is incorrect. The ambassador wrote the blog, period. The NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo is not the problem; they have been and are part of the solution. Minister Helez's crude attempt to shift the blame for his own failures in leading the Ministry onto them is a grave betrayal of NATO's friendship with BiH," the Embassy stated.