A quarter of a century ago, in the midst of the war in Kosovo and in its aftermath, senior international figures beat a path to the door of Hashim Thaçi, the Kosovo Liberation Army commander who would later become the country’s most prominent politician.
Thaçi hosted the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, one of the KLA’s most prominent international supporters. He met the late Liberal Democrat leader Sir Paddy Ashdown for a beer. Madeleine Albright, then US secretary of state, was a vocal admirer, and Hillary Clinton met Thaçi later when she occupied the same position.
