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Analysis: US fights Cen. Asian militants

WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- The United States has focused on fighting Islamic militants in Central Asia to stabilize governments since its stunning victory in Afghanistan.

U.S. advisers landed in Georgia last week to help the local military fight al Qaida and Taliban influence in the republic's notorious Pankisi Gorge.

U.S. officials believe about 100 Arab al Qaida fighters and several hundred Chechens linked to Afghanistan's former Taliban regime are still active in the area.

"But our main objective is to help stabilize regional governments and enable them to govern effectively," a senior U.S. official told United Press International.

"In Georgia, we will train and equip four battalions; three from the defense forces and one from the border guards," he said.

The Americans have also made similar arrangements with other Central Asian republics. Under this "train and equip program," they will provide similar facilities to the military in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. Both republics have borders with Afghanistan and have a major border control problem.

Currently, local forces supervised by Russian military officers man their borders with Afghanistan. The presence of U.S. military advisers in the region has caused concern in Moscow.

Washington has responded by assuring the Russians that the United States "recognizes and respects" Moscow's political and strategic interests in Caucasian and Central Asian region. It also recognizes that because of its long association with these republics, Russia has a special relationship with them and does not intend to interfere in their mutual ties.

"But we believe that these are now sovereign states, free to make their own decisions," the U.S. official said.

Washington also has acquired military bases in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which were used for operations into Afghanistan during the war against the Taliban. "Even during the war, and later, we made it clear to Moscow that we have no interest in acquiring permanent military bases in the region," said the U.S. official.

He said the United States and Russia have regularly consulted each other on these issue. A U.S. delegation visited Moscow on April 15 for talks with Russia officials on these issues while another will be going soon. "We are transparent and sensitive to Russia's concerns and see no clash of interests here."

Americans believe that it is also in Russia's interest to eradicate remaining pockets of Islamic militancy in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Steeped in secular traditions left behind by 70 years of communist rule, Central Asia -- although Muslim -- was never a fertile ground for Islamic militancy.

The influence of the militants further declined after the humiliating defeat of the Taliban and al Qaida forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

But during their five-year association with the Taliban, Muslim rebels in Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya established several small pockets across the region.

In a recent report, the New York-based Eurasianet news agency reported that the American military advisers, who landed in Georgia on April 28, were also "on a mission to contain al Qaida loyalists who might be operating in the lawless Pankisi Gorge."

A mountainous area 150 kilometers northeast of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, the Pankisi Gorge became a problem spot when local authorities admitted 7,000 Chechen refugees in 1999.

Since then, Moscow has exerted continuous pressure on Georgia to crack down on the movements of Chechen separatists. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Georgia has also come under U.S. pressure to curb lawlessness in Pankisi.

The area, approximately measuring 2 miles by 18 miles, is populated by Kists, ethnic Chechens of Georgian citizenship who escaped "cleansing" by the Russian Empire in early 19th century. Kists have adopted some Georgian traditions and even family names, but they also have maintained cultural links with their ethnic kin in Chechnya. This cultural bond was a major reason Chechen refugees settled in Pankisi.

The refugees also included Chechen fighters who later established close links with the former Taliban rulers of Kabul, using the so-called Afghan corridor from Chechnya through Georgia and Azerbaijan into Afghanistan.

After the collapse of the Taliban regime, several hundred Chechen fighters returned to Pankisi, bringing along about 100 Arab fighters of Osama bin Laden's al Qaida network. Most prominent among them is a Jordanian known only as Khattab.

U.S. officials see the presence of these Arabs and Chechen fighters as "a destabilizing factor" and are encouraging the Georgian forces to "take action in the Pankisi Gorge."

The Americans also view this problem as linked to the general situation in Chechnya where thousands of Chechens have been killed fighting the Russian military. While helping regional authorities fight Chechen and Arab terrorists, the Americans also urge the Russians to seek a peaceful end to the crisis in Chechnya. They believe that without a political solution the Chechen problem will continue to destabilize the entire region.

U.S. observers say that the situation in Pankisi is directly linked to the Chechen crisis. In rest of the region, Islamic militancy is on the decline.

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