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Rumsfeld says to reward Caucasus for Afghan help
By Charles Aldinger

YEREVAN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a lightning tour of the Caucasus on Saturday with the offer of military assistance to states close to Afghanistan in return for their help in the U.S. war on terrorism.

Rumsfeld landed in the Armenian capital Yerevan on the second leg of a one-day tour of the south Caucasus states of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia -- across the Caspian Sea from the Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan.

The three former Soviet republics have offered Washington use of their airspace for the Afghan campaign.

Rumsfeld earlier told reporters flying with him that U.S. and Afghan troops, backed by some of the campaign's heaviest bombing, had made a major advance against al Qaeda guerrillas in their besieged mountain hideout.

On the ground, Afghan commanders said Chechen fighters loyal to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were fighting to the death, but 50 other al Qaeda guerrillas had surrendered.

Washington accuses bin Laden of masterminding the September 11 hijack attacks on New York and Washington, which killed nearly 3,300 people.

REWARDS FOR SUPPORT

Rumsfeld and senior U.S. officials said Washington was anxious to reward the impoverished states for their support.

"I think we are able -- or at least we will be able -- to have military-to-military relations on a sort of fresh basis as we go forward," Rumsfeld told reporters on his aircraft.

He said the U.S. Congress was about to approve legislation to lift 1992 sanctions prohibiting military relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan despite their continuing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Officials said closer contact with the United States would allow the countries to modernise their armies and press ahead with post-communist economic reforms.

In Azerbaijan, Rumsfeld held talks with President Haydar Aliyev and thanked him for his support for U.S. military action.

"The Congress is currently considering a waiver for Section 907, which would allow the United States and your country to engage in greater military-to-military cooperation," he told Aliyev across a long table.

"We are hopeful that the change in law will take place this week and this will be the beginning of improved cooperation between our two countries."

Aliyev, leader of a mainly Muslim state of eight million, said the waiver would be a "very good Christmas present."

Azerbaijan suffered a humiliating defeat in a 1988-94 war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, after the enclave's mainly ethnic Armenian population tried to break from Azeri rule. A ceasefire ended the conflict but the dispute is unresolved.

On arriving in Armenia, Rumsfeld went straight into meetings with President Robert Kocharyan and other top officials.

ADVANCE ON AL QAEDA

Briefing reporters en route, Rumsfeld said U.S. and Afghan forces had made significant advances on al Qaeda fighters in caves and tunnels in eastern Afghanistan's Tora Bora region.

"The forces on the ground near Tora Bora have advanced about two km (just over a mile)...in the last eight hours, which is a heck of a lot in that kind of terrain area," he said.

"They made good progress. It is a very heavy force, and it is obviously working," he added.

Rumsfeld said U.S. warplanes had dropped about 240 bombs on Thursday and 180 in a brief span on Friday in the Tora Bora region, where U.S. officials believe bin Laden could be hiding.

U.S. Special Forces troops were taking part in the dangerous business of clearing caves and tunnels, he added.

For the first time, Rumsfeld said U.S. forces in Afghanistan were holding several detainees from al Qaeda or their former Taliban protectors, but would not be more precise except to say they were not enemy leaders.

Rumsfeld was due to fly to Georgia later on Saturday to hold talks with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.

He said he also planned to visit Uzbekistan before moving on to Brussels early next week for a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers.