Giving a speech in the Bosnian state parliament during his official visit to Sarajevo on Wednesday, the US representative said that progress made during the previous ten years was jeopardised by dangerous arguments in the 2006 election campaign that were based on nationalist rhetoric.
He said Bosnian nationalist politicians were responsible for Bosnia lagging behind other countries in the region.
In this context, he mentioned Croatia as a model of successful implementation of reforms.
Fried said that Washington was willing to support Bosnia's efforts to join the European Union and NATO provided that Sarajevo implemented expected reforms, the most urgent one being the reform of police forces.
He also urged the Bosnian authorities to carry out constitutional changes in line with agreements reached during the 2006 negotiations, but rejected in a parliamentary vote by the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina (SBiH) led Haris Silajdzic and by the Croatian Democratic Union 1990, led by Bozo Ljubic.
Fried said the United States holds that the 2006 draft package of constitutional reforms is good and that the state parliament should reconsider and adopt it.
Commenting on the situation in the region, the American said that the status quo in Kosovo cannot be maintained any longer and that the issue must be settled this year.
We support a report by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari in its entirety, including his proposal for Kosovo's independence under international supervision, the US official said, adding that the situation in Kosovo was unique and that its solution could not set a precedent for solutions anywhere else.