| ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Oct. 10, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today his five-day trip to southeastern and central Europe was important to allies in the region and to relations among NATO nations.
The secretary’s first stop was in Kosovo, where he was the first defense secretary since 2001 to visit the Americans who are a part of NATO’s Kosovo Force. He also became the first U.S. cabinet official to visit the nation since it declared independence in February. |


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