U.S. to train 1,200 Georgian soldiers in terror battle Militants in remote gorge may be target
Washington Post
March 2, 2002
By Sharon LaFraniere, Washington Post Foreign ServiceMOSCOW, March 1 -- The U.S. initiative against what it considers a growing terrorist threat in Georgia will involve training roughly 1,200 Georgian soldiers and providing them with light weapons, vehicles and communications equipment at a cost of $64 million, a senior U.S. defense official said here today.
Georgian officials said that about 180 U.S military advisers will arrive by the end of the month. The U.S. official said four Georgian battalions will be trained for at least six months, including three or four weeks of field exercises planned for this summer.
The United States is hoping that better skills and equipment will enable Georgian soldiers to attack hide-outs of armed militants in the lawless Pankisi Gorge. U.S. and Georgian officials said they suspect the thickly forested region is serving as a sanctuary for some terrorists with connections to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, as it does for militants fleeing Russian troops in nearby Chechnya; it also holds thousands of Chechen refugees.
"We have information that there are people in the gorge who might have contact with al Qaeda," said Valery Khaburzania, Georgia's security minister, in a telephone interviewThursday. "But whether they are members of this organization or not, we don't know. These are our suspicions."
The Pentagon's plan is causing anxiety in some quarters of the Russian government because it means greater U.S. military involvement in a former Soviet republic, where 7,000 Russian troops are still stationed. But the initiative could also help Russia if it restores order to a region that gives rebels fighting Russian troops in neighboring Chechnya a place to regroup.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia today sought to ease the concerns of Russian legislators, saying that a fight against suspected terrorists in Pankisi Gorge is to Russia's benefit. "We support this fight no matter who takes part in it," he said.
He characterized the U.S. involvement as part of a longer-term Pentagon effort to build up the Georgian army, not a step toward an American combat operation. There is no threat of an American combat presence in Georgia, "nor will there be," he insisted, after meeting with President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan.
"That's something the Americans themselves don't want," Putin added.
The United States, Georgia and Russia are seeking to portray the initiative as an extension of America's support of the Georgian military. Washington has already provided training and equipment under other, more modest programs.
But the new plan still means a major influx of U.S. soldiers in a country that has never been host to more than a few U.S. military advisers.
A U.S. defense official said the plan envisions that U.S. soldiers, likely to come from Special Forces units, would limit themselves to training and not accompany Georgian troops on any mission to the gorge. Nor does the United States anticipate delivering any heavy combat equipment, he said.
He said eight U.S. combat helicopters mentioned in media reports were delivered to Georgia last summer, before the Pentagon conceived of the plan.
According to Khaburzania, the security minister, Pankisi Gorge is home to roughly 1,000 Chechens who might participate in rebel actions. He said Georgian police two weeks ago arrested several Afghans in the capital, Tbilisi, who might have been headed there, although they gave their destination as Europe.
But in general, he said, he does not believe Pankisi Gorge has become a haven for fleeing al Qaeda fighters, because there are no more armed men there now than before Osama bin Laden's defeat in Afghanistan, some 1,200 miles away.
Whether millions of dollars worth of aid will convince Georgia to take military action in the Pankisi region remains unclear. Although the United States is pressuring Georgia to act, Georgian officials are reluctant to stir up armed militants in an area thick with civilians and just 150 miles from the capital.
Georgia first plans to reinforce its police forces in the gorge before it even considers moving in combat troops, officials said.
"The situation in the gorge is such that we cannot have any military activities without losses among [the] peaceful population," said Khaburzania. "So we plan to have anti-criminal activities there. After that, we think the situation will become better."
Zurab Abashidze, Georgia's ambassador to Russia, said his country's biggest fear is that Pankisi Gorge could turn in a Chechnya-style conflict. Russia has been struggling since 1994 to subdue Chechen militants in the rebellious southern region.