schuey74
04-30-04, 10:08 AM
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Georgia will triple its troop contribution to Iraq because it believes stabilizing the country is critical to the global war on terrorism, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said.
Defense officials in the Georgian capital Tblisi said the troop level would be raised from 158 to 550 by June. The contingent is based in Baghdad and Tikrit.
``We consider this a very important part of our international obligations,'' Zhvania told reporters Thursday after briefing the U.N. Security Council on Georgia's efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict in its breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Zhvania said plans haven't been finalized yet but he said the increase would give Georgia a full battalion in the U.S.-led stabilization force.
``We are living in the neighborhood, the region, which is very vulnerable to terrorist actions and we believe that without success in the global war on terror and without the success in operation in Iraq we will face really very serious problems,'' Zhvania said.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Zhvania in Washington and thanked him for the ex-Soviet republic's assistance in Iraq. Georgia has sought to align itself closer to the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4037781,00.html
Defense officials in the Georgian capital Tblisi said the troop level would be raised from 158 to 550 by June. The contingent is based in Baghdad and Tikrit.
``We consider this a very important part of our international obligations,'' Zhvania told reporters Thursday after briefing the U.N. Security Council on Georgia's efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict in its breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Zhvania said plans haven't been finalized yet but he said the increase would give Georgia a full battalion in the U.S.-led stabilization force.
``We are living in the neighborhood, the region, which is very vulnerable to terrorist actions and we believe that without success in the global war on terror and without the success in operation in Iraq we will face really very serious problems,'' Zhvania said.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Zhvania in Washington and thanked him for the ex-Soviet republic's assistance in Iraq. Georgia has sought to align itself closer to the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4037781,00.html