US is absolutely not seeking a fresh foothold in the Caucasus
heather | 27.02.2002 15:33
The Pentagon has begun providing combat helicopters to the former Soviet republic of Georgia and will soon begin training several Georgian battalions to counter what defense officials believe is a growing terrorist threat in the country's mountainous Pankisi Gorge region, senior U.S. officials said yesterday.
The move to train and equip the Georgian military opens a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism and is fueled by a belief shared by the United States and Georgia that al Qaeda members and other Islamic extremists from Chechnya have taken refuge in northern Georgia along the Chechen border.
The mission also represents a belief by the Bush administration that Arab fighters connected to al Qaeda have joined Chechen rebel forces to battle the Russian army, an assertion long made by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, but publicly doubted until now in Washington. "We have a clear connection between Chechens and al Qaeda. They clearly fall under the potential targets of the global war on terrorism," said a U.S. defense official.
About 40 U.S. military personnel, including Special Forces troops, visited Georgia this month to assess Georgia's security needs, according to Lt. Col. Ed Loomis, a spokesman for the U.S. military's European Command near Stuttgart, Germany. The assessment team has filed its report, which is now the basis ofthe Pentagon's deliberations, he said.
The Pentagon has already provided the Georgian government with 10 UH-1H Huey helicopters, six for operations and four for spare parts, Loomis said. A U.S. military trainer and six contractors are in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, training Georgian personnel in how to operate the aircraft.
In taking its war on terrorism to Georgia, the administration is also seeking to bolster the standing of Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia's president, and build stability in the volatile Caucasus region. Georgia, a transit point for Caspian oil and an aspiring member of NATO, has been considered a U.S. ally since it won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
"We're only beginning down this path," said an administration official, discussing the Pentagon's reconnaissance trip. "What we've decided to do is think more creatively. That requires a harder look at the real situation on the ground. And doing this in a way that ensures that the Georgians and the Russians are consulted fully -- and that in the end, it's a cooperative effort."
The White House promised to help Shevardnadze during a visit he made to Washington in early October, according to Georgian diplomat David Soumbadze. "He was promised there would be a program of training and even providing some equipment. There was no detailed discussion about when and how," Soumbadze said yesterday. "This is being done specifically to enhance Georgian armed forces' ability to fight terrorism."
The decision to train and equip Georgian units comes as 80 U.S. Special Forces troops are on the ground in the Philippines training Filipino units in counterterrorist tactics against rebels belonging to the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group that the United States says has ties to al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, who is accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks.
The U.S. military also is conducting intelligence-gathering flights over the southern Philippine island of Basilan.
Asked about the possibility of intelligence flights over Georgia, the senior defense official said: "As far as our ability to surveil the area, we've got some significant surveillance assets in that theater that give us a pretty good look at threats on the ground."
But the official said that he did not want to draw too many parallels between Georgia and the Philippines. "I think we're sophisticated enough at this point not to try to put this situation in the same box as the Philippines," the official said. "It's of equal interest, I would say, but the geopolitical situation in this area in very different than it is in the Philippines."
The Bush administration, which has not yet settled on a source of funding for the training mission, believes that Arab fighters trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan have found safe haven in the Pankisi Gorge. "We know they have contacts with bin Laden's people, that some of them have trained in Afghanistan," one official said. Chechen rebels are also said to be among an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 Chechen refugees in the region.
U.S. officials said there is not an explicit goal of training Georgian forces to capture suspected terrorists, but one policymaker said the potential to question fighters in the Pankisi Gorge is "an element" of the administration's thinking.
Russian reaction to the U.S. mission in Georgia has ranged from fear that the United States is seeking a fresh foothold in the Caucasus to satisfaction that the U.S. government is acknowledging that some fighters in Chechnya and others in Georgia are connected to international terrorism. Russian troops have battled Chechen rebels in the region since 1994 in an effort to put down a separatist movement. The Russian military's tactics -- and Moscow's heavy-handed rule -- have been sharply criticized by international human rights groups.
The Pankisi Gorge lies within Georgian territory, but the government in Tbilisi is too weak to control the rugged terrain or the bandits and transient bands of fighters who operate there. Russia has pressured Georgia to get tough and assert authority over the region or to allow the Russian military to roust the Chechen rebels taking refuge there.
More than once in recent months, Russian warplanes have dropped bombs on Georgian territory, targeting alleged Chechen militants and drawing protests from Tbilisi. Georgia resents intrusions by Russia and has resisted Russian requests to push Chechen refugees back across the border into Chechnya.
Human Rights Watch, in Feb. 13 letters to Putin and Shevardnadze, urged the leaders not to expel thousands of Chechens from safe havens in Georgia. The New York-based human rights organization said civilians in Chechnya face "ruthless" assaults by Russian troops and "abusive" actions by rebel fighters.
The Bush administration, which already supports the Georgian government with millions of dollars in assistance each year, has urged Russia to back off. U.S. officials concluded they would have a stronger argument if they were helping Georgia to exert control over the Pankisi Gorge.
"You don't want to send in eight police cars and have them shot up by a bunch of bandits. You want to be able to arrest people who are big-time criminals or worse," said a U.S. official involved in the policy. "If we're going to tell Russia to respect Georgian sovereignty, it helps if we're helping Georgia to the best of our ability."
The move to train and equip the Georgian military opens a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism and is fueled by a belief shared by the United States and Georgia that al Qaeda members and other Islamic extremists from Chechnya have taken refuge in northern Georgia along the Chechen border.
The mission also represents a belief by the Bush administration that Arab fighters connected to al Qaeda have joined Chechen rebel forces to battle the Russian army, an assertion long made by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, but publicly doubted until now in Washington. "We have a clear connection between Chechens and al Qaeda. They clearly fall under the potential targets of the global war on terrorism," said a U.S. defense official.
About 40 U.S. military personnel, including Special Forces troops, visited Georgia this month to assess Georgia's security needs, according to Lt. Col. Ed Loomis, a spokesman for the U.S. military's European Command near Stuttgart, Germany. The assessment team has filed its report, which is now the basis ofthe Pentagon's deliberations, he said.
The Pentagon has already provided the Georgian government with 10 UH-1H Huey helicopters, six for operations and four for spare parts, Loomis said. A U.S. military trainer and six contractors are in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, training Georgian personnel in how to operate the aircraft.
In taking its war on terrorism to Georgia, the administration is also seeking to bolster the standing of Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia's president, and build stability in the volatile Caucasus region. Georgia, a transit point for Caspian oil and an aspiring member of NATO, has been considered a U.S. ally since it won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
"We're only beginning down this path," said an administration official, discussing the Pentagon's reconnaissance trip. "What we've decided to do is think more creatively. That requires a harder look at the real situation on the ground. And doing this in a way that ensures that the Georgians and the Russians are consulted fully -- and that in the end, it's a cooperative effort."
The White House promised to help Shevardnadze during a visit he made to Washington in early October, according to Georgian diplomat David Soumbadze. "He was promised there would be a program of training and even providing some equipment. There was no detailed discussion about when and how," Soumbadze said yesterday. "This is being done specifically to enhance Georgian armed forces' ability to fight terrorism."
The decision to train and equip Georgian units comes as 80 U.S. Special Forces troops are on the ground in the Philippines training Filipino units in counterterrorist tactics against rebels belonging to the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group that the United States says has ties to al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, who is accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks.
The U.S. military also is conducting intelligence-gathering flights over the southern Philippine island of Basilan.
Asked about the possibility of intelligence flights over Georgia, the senior defense official said: "As far as our ability to surveil the area, we've got some significant surveillance assets in that theater that give us a pretty good look at threats on the ground."
But the official said that he did not want to draw too many parallels between Georgia and the Philippines. "I think we're sophisticated enough at this point not to try to put this situation in the same box as the Philippines," the official said. "It's of equal interest, I would say, but the geopolitical situation in this area in very different than it is in the Philippines."
The Bush administration, which has not yet settled on a source of funding for the training mission, believes that Arab fighters trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan have found safe haven in the Pankisi Gorge. "We know they have contacts with bin Laden's people, that some of them have trained in Afghanistan," one official said. Chechen rebels are also said to be among an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 Chechen refugees in the region.
U.S. officials said there is not an explicit goal of training Georgian forces to capture suspected terrorists, but one policymaker said the potential to question fighters in the Pankisi Gorge is "an element" of the administration's thinking.
Russian reaction to the U.S. mission in Georgia has ranged from fear that the United States is seeking a fresh foothold in the Caucasus to satisfaction that the U.S. government is acknowledging that some fighters in Chechnya and others in Georgia are connected to international terrorism. Russian troops have battled Chechen rebels in the region since 1994 in an effort to put down a separatist movement. The Russian military's tactics -- and Moscow's heavy-handed rule -- have been sharply criticized by international human rights groups.
The Pankisi Gorge lies within Georgian territory, but the government in Tbilisi is too weak to control the rugged terrain or the bandits and transient bands of fighters who operate there. Russia has pressured Georgia to get tough and assert authority over the region or to allow the Russian military to roust the Chechen rebels taking refuge there.
More than once in recent months, Russian warplanes have dropped bombs on Georgian territory, targeting alleged Chechen militants and drawing protests from Tbilisi. Georgia resents intrusions by Russia and has resisted Russian requests to push Chechen refugees back across the border into Chechnya.
Human Rights Watch, in Feb. 13 letters to Putin and Shevardnadze, urged the leaders not to expel thousands of Chechens from safe havens in Georgia. The New York-based human rights organization said civilians in Chechnya face "ruthless" assaults by Russian troops and "abusive" actions by rebel fighters.
The Bush administration, which already supports the Georgian government with millions of dollars in assistance each year, has urged Russia to back off. U.S. officials concluded they would have a stronger argument if they were helping Georgia to exert control over the Pankisi Gorge.
"You don't want to send in eight police cars and have them shot up by a bunch of bandits. You want to be able to arrest people who are big-time criminals or worse," said a U.S. official involved in the policy. "If we're going to tell Russia to respect Georgian sovereignty, it helps if we're helping Georgia to the best of our ability."
heather
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