Georgia will join Afghanistan operations
By Temuri Kiguradze
Thursday, February 19
Speaking on February 17 in Tbilisi, the Georgian Army Chief of Staff Vladimir Chachibaia stated that Georgia “is ready to participate in the NATO anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan at any time.” “We have got not exact dates and don’t yet know the size of the military contingent that will be sent to Afghanistan,” said the head of the Georgian Defence Ministry Press Service Nana Intskirveli, speaking to The Messenger on February 18. She noted that consultations on these issues are now underway with the representatives of the other countries taking part in the Afghanistan mission. “Currently Georgia is represented in Afghanistan only by a military doctor serving in the Latvian mission,” she added.
The Defence Ministry’s announcement was welcomed by various political figures. “The participation of Georgia in these international operations is a step towards the integration of the country with NATO. However Georgia should not do this if it adversely affects its own security,” stated opposition MP Gia Tsagareishvili, speaking to local journalists on February 18. Military expert Koba Liklikadze stated that Georgia joining the Afghanistan mission was proposed back in 2006, when it was announced that two units of up to 300 people would be sent as part of the French and Dutch missions. “However it is not clear now whether this will be the project implemented or not,” Liklikadze told The Messenger.
“Participation in this mission will be beneficial for Georgia primarily because it will help us attract the international community’s support. This operation will also give Georgian servicemen necessary experience of participation in military operations,” Liklikadze said. The analyst doesn’t consider that participation in the Afghanistan mission will weaken the defence potential of Georgia. “If only two units are sent to Afghanistan this will have no effect on Georgia’s security, as it doesn’t seem that Tbilisi is going to take revenge on Russia. If Russia starts a large scale aggression against Georgia even militarization on the Israeli scale will not help us,” concluded Liklikadze.
Georgia already has experience of participating in peacekeeping operations. Over the past four years about 2,000 Georgian soldiers have served in Iraq, although Georgia withdrew from this mission due to the August war. Participation in international peacekeeping missions is one of the conditions for the integration of Georgia with NATO.
The US Government has several times thanked Georgian for its active participation in anti-terrorist missions. Washington has conducted several training programmes for Georgian soldiers over the past few years. On February 17 General Carter Ham, the head of the US Army in Europe, announced that this training will continue to help minimize the effect of the loss of Georgian troops after the August Russian-Georgian war.
“There are shortfalls in equipment. There are shortfalls in command and control. There are shortfalls in tactical capability. I think the Georgians recognize that. But they’re still not bad. It’s also important to remember that the training that we’ve provided for them in years past was specifically to help them to develop an expeditionary capability so they could conduct operations principally in Iraq. And they did a very, very good job with that.
“They were not trained for territorial defence. As they redeployed from Iraq back to Georgia in August of last year, they [failed to adapt to this new situation]. The military as a whole, I think, is going through an assessment of how we need to change our structure, doctrine and tactics to account for a changed mission that [differs from] that which we envisioned, territorial defence as opposed to expeditionary capability. So this is a fundamental change in direction, I think, for the military of Georgia. And again, I think the European Command, in conjunction with the department, is trying to sort out how we can best help them in that regard,” the US General said, as quoted by the Georgian Rustavi 2 TV Channel.