The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said yesterday his "best bet" was that British troops would withdraw from Macedonia after NATO's 30-day deadline - but admitted he could not be certain.
After meeting British troops and political leaders in Skopje, Mr Straw insisted that the alliance's Operation Essential Harvest to gather weapons from ethnic Albanians was going to plan.
Mr Straw, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said: "At the moment, what the NATO council has agreed is that this operation is for 30 days.
"Nothing, particularly in the Balkans, is inevitable. If you are asking me whether that NATO decision may change, well, it could change."
"That's my best estimate of what will happen here, but I can't fully predict it," he said. "There are obviously contingency plans for if something goes wrong."