From the muddy fields and torched villages of Kosovo six years ago, the struggle of its Albanian majority for independence from Serbia is moving to the political battlegrounds of Washington.

Although Martti Ahtisaari, the special United Nations envoy and former Finnish president, launched his shuttle diplomacy in the Balkans last week in a bid to negotiate a final settlement, all sides recognise the critical importance of lobbying the US now that the Bush administration has decided it will actively push the process to a resolution.