Word: pankisi
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GEORGIA Strategic Presence The first contingent of U.S. special forces arrived to assist local troops in counterterrorism operations. Some 200 military instructors will be involved in the mission to train and equip Georgian soldiers to tackle Muslim extremists in areas like the remote Pankisi Gorge. The Pentagon has said the $64 million program will last six months, but others say the troops will stay on to protect U.S. regional interests...
Just beyond the last checkpoint, where Georgian Interior Forces yet again register visitors, a black BMW waited on the beat-up road. It belonged to Aslanbek, a self-described Chechen refugee and representative of the inhabitants of Duisi, the largest village in the Pankisi Gorge, a remote Georgian valley that hit the headlines in February after the U.S. announced it was an al-Qaeda base area. "Welcome to Duisi," he said, asking two journalists the purpose of their visit. To discover why Washington was so worried about the Gorge, we answered delicately. "No one here will answer that question...
Chechen rebels, a few with al-Qaeda links, have long been hiding in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, a lawless valley full of refugees. Russia asked Georgia for permission to send in troops. Now a dozen al-Qaeda fleeing Afghanistan have snuck into the area. Georgia has turned to the U.S. instead; American military advisers will arrive this month to train elite battalions...
Even before they arrive, the deployment of ?lite U.S. troops to Georgia is prompting some Chechen fighters to leave the Pankisi Gorge, Georgian officials claimed this week. However, just as swiftly, it has become evident that U.S. involvement has prompted another bout of shadowboxing between Georgia, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Chechen rebels. So far, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) remain unable to broker any kind of deal...
Gela Bezhuashvili, Georgia's deputy defense minister, said on 7 March that a "small group" of Chechen fighters had left hideouts in the Pankisi Gorge, Reuters reported. Bezhuashvili said he believed that all but a tiny fraction would follow them. There has been no independent confirmation. the whole story