Azeri daily links US general’s visit to oil pipeline security
Ekspress, Baku
24 Mar 05
Excerpt from Alakbar Raufoglu’s report in Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekspress on 24 March headlined “The Pentagon’s mobile forces are
coming”
The deputy commander of the US troops in Europe, Air Force Gen
Charles Wald, will visit Azerbaijan next week. Ekspress has learnt
from diplomatic sources that Wald will visit Azerbaijan as part of
his tour of the South Caucasus. The Pentagon general will leave Baku
for Tbilisi and then will go to Yerevan.
The source said that US ambassador to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish and
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev had confidential
discussions of the preparations for Wald’s visit on 17 March. The US
embassy’s press service did not comment on the meeting.
Gen Wald is to meet the country’s top officials and ambassadors of
NATO countries in Azerbaijan during his visit to Baku. Even though
the Defence Ministry’s press service has verified reports on Wald’s
visit to Azerbaijan in an interview with Ekspress, it said that “it
is early to talk about specific issues to be discussed”.
[Passage omitted: reported details]
Wald’s visit this time is probably aimed at discussing the US
programmes being implemented in the South Caucasus and cooperation
between NATO and Azerbaijan. A general of NATO’s European command and
the director of the Force Planning Section [in the Defence Policy and
Planning Department], Frank Boland, also confirmed this in an
interview with Ekspress yesterday [23 March]. He said that Washington
is concerned about the plight of security programmes, specifically
about projects related to the security in the Caspian Sea and of oil
pipelines.
“The security of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan [BTC] main export oil
pipeline after it is put into operation might be seriously discussed
during the visit,” he said.
[Passage omitted: quotes about the visit from foreign sources that US
mobile forces will be brought to the region to protect the oil
pipelines which will ensure security and develop cooperation ]
Azerbaijan’s official bodies have not yet reacted to reports that the
Pentagon’s mobile forces could be involved in ensuring the security
of the BTC.
“Irrespective of the reasons, US and NATO military bases could be
deployed in Azerbaijan in the near future and it seems reasonable
that in this way Washington will achieve stability in the region and
also help Azerbaijan in the Karabakh resolution,” former state
adviser Vafa Quluzada told Ekspress commenting on Wald’s upcoming
visit.
It is no secret that safe transportation of Azerbaijani oil to the
western markets is of great importance to NATO. The pipeline is to
start operating soon. Washington’s efforts to speed up events under
such circumstances are understandable. The Americans understand that
the forces that act against Washington’s interests in the region
might target the BTC. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that
the Pentagon is coming to the region with other objectives under the
guise of ensuring security.