Eurasia Insight:
GEORGIA FACES HARSH QUESTIONS AS AMERICAN TRAINING BEGINS
Mark Berniker: 5/28/02

When American special forces began training Georgian soldiers on May 27, official statements from each country invoked the threat of Islamist terrorists hiding out in Georgia’s lawless Pankisi Gorge. But with the American mission only a day old, some US lawmakers are questioning how it can coexist with Georgia’s domestic policy.

Officially, the United States has sent soldiers to Tbilisi to solidify regional security in the war against terrorism, and to ensure a safe route for Russian and Central Asian oil and gas bound for Western markets. President George W. Bush’s State Department and Defense Department are split, though, on how the United States can trust Georgia. As the Pentagon dispatches troops, a May 22 State Department report entitled "Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001" took Georgia to task. Instead of targeting the Chechen and other Muslim rebels in Pankisi for supposed links to al Qaeda, the State Department report chided the Georgians for failing to "establish effective control" over Pankisi and other eastern areas, allowing "international mujahedeen" to use the country as a conduit for financing terrorism.

American members of Congress have also criticized Georgia for failing to protect religious freedom. The State Department’s disapproval, focused on the embattled Georgian army, raises questions about the potential effectiveness of US military assistance.

While Georgia has provided little evidence of the terrorists said to be hiding in Pankisi, more than 200 US Special Forces are on the ground in Georgia setting up a logistics and communications network to connect the nation’s elite military with police and border security forces. The US agenda in Georgia has firm limits. The Bush administration has earmarked $64 million to train nearly 2,000 Georgian forces across the country, and at the current US base in Vaziani, where 10 Huey helicopters currently reside. The Pentagon’s train and equip program is schooling Georgian security forces in shooting firearms and launching grenades. US troops in Georgia can expect to leave by 2004, and American officials have insisted that they will not fight in Pankisi.

These firm limits also reflect tension between Georgia and Russia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. An online magazine called Civil Georgia reported on May 14th that Dmitri Ragozin, head of the Russian State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, had asserted Russia’s "moral right" to launch an antiterrorist operation in Pankisi. Ragozin also declared that Rappani Khalilov, a suspect in the May 9 attack that killed 42 people and injured over 100 in a Russian parade, was hiding on Georgian soil – even though Moscow radio reported the previous day that Georgian intelligence had no information on Khalilov’s whereabouts. Russian statements on terrorist movement in Pankisi have shifted many times. Nonetheless, Russian interest in Georgia – as a safe haven for Chechen militants or a gateway to Central Asian markets – figures to consistently affect American policy.

Georgia’s geopolitical situation could grow more complicated as the American-led war against al Qaeda continues. Some bandits in Pankisi reportedly include a group of Arabs, who are connected to the late Khattab, a major foe of the Russians in their war in Chechnya. Georgian Security Minister Valeri Khaburdzania declared on May 20 that about 100 Arab militants, and another 700 armed fighters, are loose in the Pankisi region. If Russia uses these claims to press its own Chechen campaign in Georgia – and the United States prepares to make the Vaziani base a platform for future action against Iraq – upheaval in and around Georgia could worsen.

All this instability could make American military advisors’ work harder. As the train and equip mission formally began, Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported that 60 soldiers who had deserted their base and hid in a forest to protest a colleague’s treatment had returned after four days. With American criticism arriving at the same time as American assistance, Georgia faces a challenging task. It must contend with an aggressive Russia, answer charges of failing to stem terrorism, and improve its human-rights reputation. The United States has maintained that it has no intention of fighting Georgia’s battles, preferring to use Green Berets to get the Georgian military up to speed with an operational counterterrorism strategy. A removal of foreign mujahedeen and Chechen rebels from Pankisi would suit Russian and American interests. But with Shevardnadze’s credibility damaged by recent reports, it is unclear how Georgian forces can manage such a task.

Editor’s Note: Mark Berniker is a freelance journalist specializing in Central Asian and Caucasian affairs.