SAAKASHVILI PROPOSES GEORGIA AS SUPPLY ROUTE FOR US ARMS TO AFGHANISTAN

Tert.am
17:30 ~U 29.01.10

Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili says he has proposed to
the United States that his country become a logistics hub for the
expanding U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, reports The Canadian Press.

That might be a difficult offer for the Obama administration
to accept. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press,
Saakashvili outlined a Georgian proposal to develop a corridor for
armaments across Georgia and Central Asia to Afghanistan. Georgia
is offering its Black Sea ports to Western military supply ships and
its airports as refuelling points for cargo planes.

U.S. Navy Capt. Kevin Aandahl, a spokesperson for the Defence
Department’s Transportation Command, said the department is aware
of Georgia’s willingness, but has not substantially explored the
proposal. The White House would not comment.

Saakashvili has long sought to steer Georgia toward the West and
eventual NATO and EU membership. That course has been in doubt since
Georgia’s war with Russia in 2008 that ended in a cease-fire with
Russian troops just miles (kilometres) from Tbilisi, the Georgian
capital.

Georgia also has been unnerved by U.S. President Barack Obama’s move
to reset relations with Russia and the ambivalence in Washington and
many European capitals about Georgia’s Western integration.