How effective is the peacekeeping effort, and what's the future of Bosnia?

We talked with soldiers, Bosnians and others during the trip, and we got a variety of opinions.

This used to be a shoe factory, a thriving industry in the northern Bosnian city of Brcko.

That changed when war broke out in 1992 between ethnic Serbs, Muslims and Croats.

The Boston Serbs executed a large number of Bosnian Muslims in this area.

Well, from this area, were actually in this factory.

[Mike] The factory was later shelled.

Its bullet and graffiti scarred skeleton remains.

Bosnia is full of places like this, reminders of the bloodiest European War since World War II.

(helicopter blades whir) Today, Bosnia is mostly peaceful.

By the most basic definition, Peacekeepers have accomplished their mission, silencing the guns, and ending the war.

Now, the NATO stabilization force is dwindling, 60,000 soldiers in 1995, 12,000 today.

Soldiers, Bosnians and others have many questions and perspectives on the future of Bosnia.

(horse hooves clack) Welcome to the Arizona market.

This plywood catacomb near Brcko used to be an ungoverned lawless flea market.

Peacekeepers and international organizations helped clean it up.

Now it's a thriving shopping area, modernizing and working to put tax dollars back into local government.

UNL Professor Patrice McMahon visited the market in June.

She says it's a positive sign of progress for Bosnia.

That's the way capitalism does take off, and I would argue that's the way in a sense, democracy takes off.

It's a ground roots initiative of people getting together spontaneously doing what they want to do, doing what they need to do, making money, learning about ownership.

And then eventually capitalism starts, you know, developing taxes and rules of the game and governance.

(people chatting) [Mike] McMahon has made several research trips to Bosnia.

She's fascinated with underdogs, and there's little doubt Bosnia falls into that category.

Half of all Bosnians are unemployed.

Economic development has been slow.

Farms are small, farming practices outdated.

We ignored that economic development needed to come with and even before political development and forcing reconciliation and all these institutions.

So, I mean, there's not really a lot of good news in terms of economic development.

The country is worse off now than it was prior to the war.

And what they have gotten instead of investment is international insistence.

So you've created this very dependent mentality among a lot of the Bosnians.

[Mike] McMahon says another problem is a flawed governing structure that separates Bosnia into two regions.

One controlled by Serbs, one controlled by Muslims and Croats, each with its own government and army.

I mean, anywhere where you have a place where the institutions don't work, people don't have jobs, you know, any place could be ripe for conflict.

And certainly with the multi-ethnic dimensions, or the multi-ethnic history of Bosnia, you could see how you couldn't eliminate or it would be hard to eliminate that distinct possibility in the future.

[Mike] McMahon is optimistic though, that fighting won't resume in Bosnia and that her favorite underdog will rebuild to the point of earning membership in the European Union.

Cznejna Vukovic sees a half empty glass.

What does she think will happen once the soldiers leave Bosnia?

(speaking a foreign language) War will start again here.

She thinks the war will start again.

Yeah.

[Mike] Vukovic, a 30 year old Serb, has a job.

She sells CDs and perfume from a stand in downtown Brcko.

(speaking a foreign language) She's not happy with the job.

(speaking a foreign language) She used to work with SFOR And this is kind of, this is not good after SFOR because it's not really good money but this is just something to do -in the transition, kind of.

-[Mike] What did she do for SFOR?

[Female Soldier] It doesn't look like Bosnia is going to have any bright future because everybody's trying to leave.

There is not really good perspective for young people and everybody's trying to get out of here, pretty much.

[Mike] Vukovic says many of her friends are leaving.

She'll stay for now.

Task force Huskers soldiers walk softly, but carry big sticks.

Six ton Humvees, armed with 7.62 millimeter machine guns.

They carry M 16 s and Beretta pistols.

This presence quells the fighting but they're more involved in areas like economic development, mediation and public relations.

It's peacekeeping work these soldiers weren't originally trained to do.

Some question whether it should even be the role of the military.

Lieutenant Kyle Hildebrand says the army, especially National Guard troops, aren't especially suited for this mission.

We, we bring so much to the table.

Everyone here has a civilian career.

You know, they're a mechanic, you know, they work in a restaurant.

They're a businessman.

They're a salesman.

They do something else.

[Mike] The 25 year old Hildebrand doesn't have another job.

He's a full-time guard soldier whose current office is the Bosnian countryside.

He believes Bosnia has a future.

It's a beautiful country, but it does suffer from the repercussions of the ending of communism.

The, you know, the fall of Tito and I guess the economic and political and social development is coming.

But it's, it's a little bit behind and I think the more that there's some involvement here it'll start the process and get things rolling.

And this country has a promising future.

(children singing) [Mike] It's the last day of school in the small town of Gornia Zovic.

Task force Huskers soldiers are visiting the school's year end festival.

Sergeant Zachary Owens has joined the kids in a volleyball game.

The soft spoken Owens has faced his own challenges during deployment to Bosnia.

His father died in April.

It's been hard to be away from home.

It's also been hard to see these kids and think about their future.

You know, I remember what, you know an adult said is that, you know, once we leave here that they're just gonna go back to war.

And when I look at a little kid, you know, I don't know if he's gonna be able to live long enough to, you know enjoy his life.

[Mike] Is that troubling in a sense that knowing the amount of work that you're putting into this?

Yes and no to that.

The reason I say that is yes, 'cause you know right now they're, they're having a, you know, a happy life.

They're not, there's no worries for them anything happening to 'em right now, so it does make me feel like I'm doing something for these, for the townspeople, why we're here.

But when I leave, I'm gonna feel, kind of feel sorry for 'em in a way.

Because like, you know, I'm gonna remember what they say to me that once we leave here that they're just gonna go back to war.

[Mike] The soldiers of taskforce Huskers leave Bosnia this month hoping that won't be the case.

There's no timetable for the end of this mission, but sometime in the not so distant future, Peacekeepers will be gone altogether.

Then it's up to Bosnia to decide its own fate, make sure its tragic history doesn't repeat and create a land where these are the only shots being fired.

Task force Huskers returned home last September.

Here are some of the sights and sounds of one of the homecoming events.

Boy See the blinky lights?

(crowd cheering) (sirens wailing) (woman crying) It's okay, mom.

Oh, it's okay.

(crowd cheering) Dad!

So what's it like to be back?

It's good to be back.

We weren't expecting this many people at all.

And so everybody just kind of went, wow, you know it was nice to see all the support.

Very emotional morning, very emotional morning.

It's been a long time coming.

It was tough, but really teared up.

It's tough to be away from, you know, the boy there.

I don't know, be away from him for a year there.

Miss his birthday, miss those things.

Yeah.

Last time I seen her she was just a little over five months old So I can't believe she's walking talking a few words here and there.

And last time I seen her, she's just getting ready to crawl.

Now the Nebraska soldiers are gone, but how how many other US soldiers are still in Bosnia?

Well, about 1200 and that number may actually soon decline.

In fact, NATO has greatly reduced the total number of peacekeepers in Bosnia.

There were 12,000 when we visited, just 7,000 today.

NATO says conditions are improving and local authorities are playing an increased role.

For example, local police taking over the weapons harvest operations we saw the Nebraska soldiers handling.

Many of the Bosnians we talked to though weren't looking forward to the day when the troops left, especially knowing that many suspected of war crimes were still at large, Jenna.

All right, thank you, Mike.