Georgia has lost its first soldier in Afghanistan, Lt. Mukhran Shukvani, a 28-year-old company commander who died in a roadside bomb attack. Another soldier was badly injured in the same attack, losing both his legs.
Georgian officials emphasized quickly that the death does not call into question their mission in Afghanistan. Georgia currently has about 950 soldiers deployed to Helmand province. The ambassador to the U.S., Batu Kutelia, said:
[T]his cannot and will not lessen our resolve to achieve our mission in Afghanistan. The Government and people of Georgia chose to deploy 750 additional troops to Afghanistan's Helmand Province under the US command knowing full well the risks our troops would face there. Georgian soldiers will continue to fight alongside the US Marine Corps in this dangerous region and with no national caveats.
At least in the English-language media from Georgia, there is no suggestion that Lt. Shukvani's death may sour Georgians on their army's deployment to Afghanistan. But naturally, the Russian media is making hay with that notion. Georgia Times suggests that Saakashvili is "hiding" other casualties from the Georgian public, and RT asks if Georgian soldiers are "being sacrificed for their leader's ambitions":
“Saakashvili is trying to make himself look better in the eyes of Western countries… he tries to show he’s a democrat by taking steps which do not benefit Georgia,” said Labor Party Secretary Kakha Dzagania. “He uses Georgian boys, their lives, in order to secure himself the presidential post.”
President Mikhail Saakashvili has never hidden his desire to see Georgia become a NATO member. But for the soldiers’ families whose lives are torn apart, his dream is their nightmare.
According to an opinion poll taken when the big deployment was announced last year, a slight plurality supported the decision: 44.9 percent supported sending the troops, 43.4 percent opposed, and 11.7 percent were undecided. Might those numbers be changing?
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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