Hashim Thaci Threatens to Quit

Kosovo's president Hashim Thaci said on Friday he would resign and force a parliamentary election if lawmakers do not approve changes that would effectively create a national army under a plan opposed by the country's ethnic Serb minority and its NATO and U.S. allies.

The Kosovo government ordered the creation of a national army three years ago, but Serbian deputies said they would block the required changes to the constitution.

On Wednesday, parliament indicated it would bypass that opposition by preparing amendments to an existing law that would allow the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) to buy heavy weapons and recruit more soldiers, in effect transforming it into an army.

The plan drew immediate criticism from NATO, which still has some 4,500 troops in the country nearly two decades after it attacked Serbia because of Kosovo. Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed...