PRISTINA, Kosovo, Oct. 7 -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited Kosovo on Tuesday and reiterated U.S. support for the newly independent state, which has failed to achieve the broad recognition it expected because of opposition from Russia and NATO allies such as Spain.

Gates, the first Cabinet-level U.S. official to visit Kosovo since the former Serbian province declared independence in February, pledged to keep U.S. forces stationed here alongside 14,000 troops, most of them European. And during a whirlwind tour of the newest Balkan state, which included a short walk through the American-patrolled city of Gjilan, he told U.S. forces they had not been forgotten.

An area that once seemed to be the forward edge of the U.S. military's footprint in Europe has become, amid the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, something of an afterthought, patrolled by 1,600 U.S. troops, the majority of them members of the Missouri National Guard.

"We often hear about deployments elsewhere in the world, but I want to personally convey to the members of the Kosovo force that they are neither forgotten nor unappreciated," said Gates, speaking after meeting with Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, and its prime minister, Hashim Thaci. "Their mission here is vital, a point made abundantly clear in our meetings this morning."

Gates is on a four-day trip to Europe that is likely to focus on relations with Russia in the wake of its invasion of Georgia in August. There is deep uncertainty among European leaders and U.S. officials over how best to balance the rising international ambitions of Russia with NATO's further eastward expansion, a process Moscow views as a threat.

Russia has recognized two parts of Georgia -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- as independent states. Under recently signed pacts with both enclaves, Russia plans to station troops indefinitely within Georgia's internationally recognized borders. Georgia is seeking NATO membership.

Gates will hold a meeting Wednesday with his counterpart from Ukraine, which is also seeking full NATO membership, on the sidelines of a meeting of southeastern European defense ministers in Macedonia. He will also attend a NATO ministerial meeting Thursday and Friday that includes a session of the newly formed NATO-Georgia Council, created to consider Georgia's membership appeal.

Both sessions are likely to irk Moscow, which thinks that NATO is encroaching on Russia's natural sphere of influence.

"We have to figure out the right path in terms of the reality that we have to do business with Russia on important issues and at the same time convey the message that it really can't be business as usual after what happened in Georgia," Gates told reporters on the flight to Europe.

But Gates said the Bush administration remains committed to providing a NATO Membership Action Plan for Georgia and Ukraine.

"I think that the U.S. position on NATO membership for both Ukraine and Georgia is clear," Gates said. "Whether or not that will move forward remains to be seen. But the U.S. position is unchanged."

Although Russia's invasion drew widespread condemnation in European capitals, countries such as Germany remain opposed to further eastward expansion of the military alliance.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed her opposition to setting either Ukraine or Georgia on the road to membership in NATO during a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week.

Germany, which has deep business ties with Russia, is reluctant to extend the obligation of mutual defense to countries that have such fraught relations with Russia.

Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia, has also led the opposition to Kosovo's independence. When Kosovo declared independence, the leadership here confidently expected that 100 or more states would quickly recognize the step. But only 47 countries, including the United States and a majority of European Union nations, have done so.

"Very soon we will have new recognitions," said Sejdiu, suggesting that the neighboring states of Macedonia and Montenegro were about to recognize his country.

But some nations such as Spain, which is concerned about separatist movements of its own, have lobbied other governments against recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, according to European diplomats.

The Serbian government insists that ethnic Albanian leaders here must return to the negotiating table to map out Kosovo's future. Some Serbian officials have also suggested that, unless those negotiations resume, Kosovo could be partitioned along ethnic lines with some northern regions remaining part of Serbia. Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister, said Tuesday that Kosovo's independence is "untouchable."

Gates also rejected partitioning Kosovo "now or at any time in the future," adding that "the United States supports the territorial integrity of Kosovo." He said a new rotation of U.S. forces would keep American troops on the ground here until late 2009, and the U.S. commander in Kosovo, Brig. Gen. Larry Kay, said planning has begun for a U.S. presence in 2010.

© 2008 The Washington Post Company