Likely New U.S. Diplomat For Eurasia ‘Gets Things Done’
RFE/RL
August 13, 2009
by Andrew F. Tully
WASHINGTON — The United States will soon have a new deputy assistant
secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.
The man who is vacating the post after four years, Matthew Bryza, has
announced he will be replaced by Tina Kaidanow, a longtime diplomat
with more than 10 years of experience in the Balkans, who most
recently served as the first U.S. ambassador to Kosovo.
The U.S. State Department has yet to formally announce Kaidanow’s
appointment, however..
Bryza, who has held the post since June 2005, is now rumored to be
moving on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Kaidanow, who holds a master’s degree in political science from
Columbia University in New York, is a career diplomat who until now
has specialized in the Balkans.
Most notably, she served as the chief U.S. envoy to Kosovo from July
2006-July 2009, during its historic transition from a breakaway
territory of Serbia to a self-declared independent state.
‘She Gets Things Done’
Arbana Vidishiqi, the head of RFE/RL’s Pristina bureau, said Kaidanow
impressed many in Kosovo as a quiet but effective official..
"This is how everybody remembers Ambassador Kaidanow: She does get
things done, and she was here during a very critical period for
Kosovo," Vidishiqi says. "She came prior to the independence
declaration, and she stayed a year after the independence
declaration. So she does get things done here, but she prefers to do
those things beyond the public eye."
In fact, Vidishiqi says, many reporters were a bit frustrated because
Kaidanow seemed so averse to publicity that she seldom gave
interviews. Vidishiqi says Kaidanow didn’t restrict herself to
diplomatic functions while in Pristina, but used her influence to help
everyone she could, including ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.
"Ordinary citizens in Kosovo will probably remember her as a person
who stood by the leadership here at the most critical time, and that
was the id a lot about the Serbian minority. She opened a lot of
health-care institutions here in Serbian enclaves; she promoted
freedom of the media in Serbian enclaves. In this regard, people will
probably remember her as a person who did help a lot."
Focused On Kosovo
Kaidanow’s first major position in government began under President
Bill Clinton, where she served as director for Southeast European
Affairs at the White House’s National Security Council. Subsequently
she had assignments in Belgrade and Sarajevo.
Next, Kaidanow served as the special assistant to Christopher Hill
when he was ambassador to Macedonia from 1998 to 1999, also during the
Clinton presidency. Her duties at that time were centered on the
crisis in Kosovo.
After that, she was special assistant for European affairs for Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage during President George W.. Bush’s
time in office.
In July 2006, Kaidanow was the chief of mission and charge d’affaires
at the U.S. Office in Pristina, which was to become the U.S. Embassy
to Kosovo. Two years later, following the independence declaration,
she became the first U.S. ambassador to Kosovo.
Kaidanow’s appointment to the European and Eurasian post will see her
focusing on issues of U.S. interest in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and
Southeast Europe. Energy issues and Georgia-Russia tensions can be
expected to figure prominently in her work.
Kaidanow’s responsibilities may reportedly not extend to serving as
the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the three-party body tasked
with facilitating negotiations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute
over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Bryza had served as Minsk Group co-chair during his time as the
European and Eurasian deputy assistant secretary. In initial remarks,
Bryza suggested Kaidanow would do the same.
But RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service and other news sites in Azerbaijan
have since cited U.S. officials as saying she will not be filling the
post. An alternative replacement for Bryza’s co-chair position has n
Kaidanow’s experience in Kosovo would translate into support for
Nagorno-Karabakh independence — an outcome that is hotly opposed by
Baku.
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