VOA cited Fried as saying that an independent Kosovo is in Serbia's best interest. Fried told reporters at the State Department Friday that a unilateral recognition of Kosovo's independence would be the worst of all solutions, but that postponing a final decision could only lead to instability.
The U.S. official urged leaders in Belgrade to acknowledge that late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic lost Kosovo when he engaged in a war with NATO and committed crimes against citizens in the province.
In a reference to recent anti-U.S. remarks by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, Fried said they would not affect the American policy of goodwill toward Serbia, VOA reported..
Kostunica last week reacted angrily to President Bush's calls for a quick decision on Kosovo independence. Serbia, backed by Russia, is adamantly rejecting independence for the province, which it considers an integral part of its territory.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999, and its majority ethnic Albanian population is getting impatient with repeated delays in deciding the future status of the province.
The New York Time brought an article on Saturday, headlined "Hints of New Kosovo Talks", citing the the US envoy to Kosovo as saying that Western nations could put off plans to make the province independent of Serbia, if doing so might bring Russia on board.
According to the NYT, Wisner told Kosovo"s leaders on Friday that the Western nations were willing to foster new talks - "not to delay what the outcome has to be, but to make it clear to the world that every avenue was pursued."
"The idea, which follows a similar proposal that President Nicolas Sarkozy of France made in recent days, is to allow new talks between Serbia and the ethnic Albanian leadership of Kosovo during the next four to six months," the NYT said.
Sarkozy suggested that if the talks failed to reach a resolution, Kosovo would then become independent. But the American desire for Kosovo to gain its independence this summer was set back when Sarkozy floated his plan, the NYT said.
Serbia indicated it would object to new talks.