EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - US Military Advisors Headed to Georgia to Promote Anti-Terrorism Training

EURASIA INSIGHT

US MILITARY ADVISORS HEADED TO GEORGIA TO PROMOTE ANTI-TERRORISM TRAINING
Jeffrey Silverman 2/27/02

According to officials in Georgia, US military advisors will soon arrive in the country to help train Georgian security forces in anti-terrorism tactics. The announcement is indicative of mounting concern in the Bush administration that Islamic militants are exploiting Georgia’s chronic instability to plot new terrorist attacks. Russian officials have criticized the intended deployment, saying that introducing US advisors into the Caucasus could further destabilize the region.

US officials have stressed that American military personnel would serve in Georgia in an advisory capacity. Meanwhile, a Georgian Defense Ministry spokesman denied reports that US and German troops had already arrived in Georgia, the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported February 27. Georgian officials also dismissed suggestions that US soldiers would directly participate in operations in the Pankisi area.

Georgia does not dispute reports that Chechen militants and other Islamic radical elements have found refuge in the northern Pankisi Gorge region, an area that borders the renegade Russian region of Chechnya. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Rampant lawlessness in the Pankisi area has long been a source of tension in Georgian-Russian relations. Moscow wants Georgia to step up security in the border area. Attempts by Tbilisi to reassert its authority over the area have so far proven unsuccessful. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The deterioration of order in the Pankisi area is connected not only to the failure of Georgian state institutions, but also to Russia’s brutal campaign in Chechnya. The Pankisi Gorge has provided shelter for thousands of Chechen refugees. Chechen combatants have also utilized the area for rest and re-supply efforts.

The United States began paying closer attention to the Pankisi situation following the September 11 terrorist attacks. In mid February, the top US diplomat in Georgia, Philip Remler, announced that Islamic radicals with links to Osama bin Laden were operating in the Pankisi Gorge. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The Chechen representative in Georgia, Kizhri Aldamov, welcomed the pending arrival of US advisors. While emphatically denying that any al Qaeda loyalists were in the Pankisi Gorge, Aldamov said the US soldiers could help put a stop to aggressive Russian military action in the region.

Officials in Tbilisi have repeatedly accused Russia of carrying out military provocations along the Georgian border. OSCE Border Monitoring Operations reports have documented several incursions in recent months. In late October, for example, OSCE observers saw unidentified jets and helicopters flying "in the vicinity of the international border." The OSCE noted a similar incident on January 22.

A senior Russian expert, speaking to the Interfax news agency, predicted that the United States could end up regretting its decision to dispatch military advisors to Georgia. "If they allow themselves to be dragged into Georgia’s developments � the Russian peacekeeping operation in Abkhazia suggests that casualties may be significant," the expert said. Meanwhile, Russian government officials insisted that Moscow have a voice in any anti-terrorist operation conducted in the region. The entire "North Caucasian knot" is "very complex and intricate, and it calls for extreme caution and knowledge of the situation," Alexei Volin, the Russian government’s Deputy Chief of Staff, told a Russian radio station.

Bringing order to the Pankisi Gorge may take more than better training and equipment for Georgian security forces. Many inhabitants reportedly engage in smuggling and other illicit activities. Thus, powerful organized criminal groups have a vested interest in maintaining the existing chaotic conditions.

In addition, an OSCE report on August 6 indicates that Georgian security forces in the area do not enjoy the support of the local population. According to the report, OSCE representatives were involved in a "shooting incident" near the hamlet of Shatli involving local villagers. Press reports said the OSCE observers were caught in the middle of a firefight between local residents and border guards. Two locals were reported seriously wounded in the clash. There were no reported injuries to either border guards or OSCE personnel, although the border guards’ camp near Shatli was burned to the ground.

A source with knowledge of the incident says the clash was linked to organized criminal activity. Local residents claim that corruption is widespread among Georgian security forces, adding that locals are frequent victims of shakedowns and other run-ins with border guards.

The specific spark of the August 6 clash was a fistfight, according to the EurasiaNet source. A reputed organized criminal figure in Shatli named Bakir, who allegedly had ties with local border guards, beat up a local resident shortly before the firefight. The source indicates that residents attacked the border guard camp in retaliation.

Editor�s Note: Jeffrey Silverman is a senior writer for the Georgian Times, an English-language newspaper in Tbilisi.

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