WASHINGTON, Challenged by Congress, a State Department official said Wednesday that U.S. support for Kosovo's independence was an exception to the general rule of discouraging secession.

``Kosovo in our view does not constitute a precedent,' Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The United States was among the first countries to recognize Kosovo after its Feb. 17 declaration of independence from Serbia.

Representative Ted Poe of Texas questioned the Bush administration's authority to choose whether a group is entitled to a country of its own.

Fried, defending the decision, acknowledged that ``supporting separatism is generally not a good idea. This is very much an exception.'

Siding with Poe, Representative Dan Burton of Indiana said U.S. recognition of Kosovo ``will lead to further conflict down the road' and ``more heartbreak.'

Committee chairman Howard Berman complimented President Bush for helping to launch the new country because ``I believe this step will shore up the security and stability of the Balkans.'

The administration's position also won the backing of Representative Eliot Engel of New York, who said there were no good alternatives, including maintaining Serbia's control of its former territory.

Neither UN nor Serbian control was a workable alternative, he said.

Fried agreed, saying Serbia lost control of Kosovo in 1999 and the question now is whether Belgrade casts its lot with Europe or pursues self-isolation.