US accused of retreating from NATO ally Albania as Russia looks to grow regional influence

Once an isolated and authoritarian Marxist country, Albania has tried to inch closer to Europe and the West. Like many countries in the Balkans, it is caught between competing worldviews.

While Albania’s democratic credentials are seriously questioned, the small Balkan nation, one of Europe’s poorest, has made significant contributions to U.S. foreign policy goals over the years.

Albania, once an authoritarian Marxist country with bitter relations with the U.S. during the Cold War, is now one of the most pro-U.S. countries in Europe and has a large diaspora community in the United States. But the amount of attention Albania receives from President Biden and Western policymakers is little for a country struggling to consolidate its democracy.