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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200205\FOR20020501a.html US Influence Moves Into One More Ex-Soviet Republic By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief May 01, 2002 -If the U.S. attacked Iraq, and Turkey balked at allowing its territory to be used as a launch pad for air strikes, it said, Georgia would be "more than willing to serve Washington in this and any other actions." At the same time, should relations with Russia turn sour in the future, a U.S. presence in Georgia, coupled with U.S. forces in Turkey, could pose a serious threat to southern European Russia. (CNSNews.com) - Just weeks before President Bush meets his Russian counterpart for a summit in St. Petersburg, the U.S. has expanded its military influence into parts of the former Soviet Union that Moscow has long considered within its sphere of strategic interest. A small group of U.S. military personnel is meeting with officers in Georgia to identify suitable locations for an intensive, $64-million program aimed at training the country's cash-strapped army to meet security threats. That group will be followed by up to 200 Special Forces troops who will help train and equip specific units of the local armed forces. The key target is a group of Islamic militants believed to be holed up in the Pankisi Gorge, a lawless and mountainous region near Georgia's border with the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. Western and Russian intelligence agencies say fighters from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network have found refuge among several thousand Chechen militants and refugees located in the area. Bush agreed to send in troops, after Georgia requested help in improving its counter-terrorism capability and handling the Pankisi Gorge situation, the Pentagon said in a statement. The initiative, it said, "Underscores the firm relationship built between the two countries since the end of the Cold War, as well as U.S. support of Georgia's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity." The Georgian deployment is the latest development in Washington's expanding war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S. already has sent troops to the Central Asian Republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as to the Philippines and Yemen. The campaign's main focus has targeted the Afghanistan-based group blamed for those attacks, al Qaeda, and the Taliban militia which gave it shelter. Pockets of al Qaeda remain in Afghanistan, while others are believed to have escaped to other countries in the region. Bin Laden has close links to Chechen rebels, having contributed both fighters and finances to their fight against Russia. At the weekend, Georgian Interior Ministry troops captured three men in Pankisi Gorge subsequently reported to be al Qaeda members. Against this background, the operation called Georgia Train and Equip got off the ground this week with the arrival in Tbilisi of the 20-strong advance party. Georgia's chief of staff, Gen. John Pirtskhalaishvili, said talks would be held with the Americans in the forthcoming days and a special working plan drafted. The team is expected to select four places where training will take place -- a 70-day component training senior commanders to improve staff planning and operations; and a 100-day component covering combat skills, infantry tactics and offensive and defensive operations. According to the U.S. European Command, which is overseeing the program, Georgian troops and border guards participating in the training will also be equipped with U.S.-supplied firearms, ammunition, uniforms, communications equipment, medical gear and construction materials. This is understood to be the first time U.S. forces are being deployed in Georgia, although European Command has conducted two exercises in the country, in 1998 and 2000. Westward drift Georgia, a country a little larger than West Virginia with a population of some 5.2 million, is strategically located in the Caucasus, between Russia and Turkey. To Russia's chagrin, the former Soviet republic has been drifting further from its sphere of influence ever since declaring independence in 1991. Although forced under Russian pressure to join the Commonwealth of Independent States, Georgia gradually moved closer toward the West and in 1999, together with Azerbaijan, refused to sign a joint CIS declaration condemning NATO action in the Balkans. "Georgia was one of the first countries to offer its full and unconditional support to the U.S. in the fight against terrorism," European Command noted in a statement this week. Moscow is highly sensitive to the prospect of U.S. forces in Georgia, whose president, Eduard Shevardnadze, has turned down several Russian offers of military assistance. President Vladimir Putin, however, played down the situation earlier this year, saying the U.S. move was "no tragedy" for Russian interests. The Interfax news agency this week quoted a Russian military attach\'e9 as saying Moscow was neither apprehensive about nor jealous of the U.S. deployment. According to the Pentagon statements, the train and equip program is due to be over in a matter of months. But some observers have voiced skepticism, suggesting that the main aim is to safeguard a planned oil pipeline between Baku on the Caspian Sea and Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Experts say the Caspian Sea contains one of the largest concentrations of petroleum in the world. Ghia Nodia, the director of a Georgian non-governmental organization called the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, said recently it was his view the U.S. presence would exceed six months, because the pipeline would need protection once built. This view was backed last February by the Texas-based independent analysis group Stratfor, which said an American presence would also "help ensure that a majority of oil and gas from the Caspian basin will go westward," bypassing Russia and China. Stratfor also pointed to another implication of the U.S. having troops in Georgia. If the U.S. attacked Iraq, and Turkey balked at allowing its territory to be used as a launch pad for air strikes, it said, Georgia would be "more than willing to serve Washington in this and any other actions." At the same time, should relations with Russia turn sour in the future, a U.S. presence in Georgia, coupled with U.S. forces in Turkey, could pose a serious threat to southern European Russia. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
