Tuesday, June 23, 2009 WASHINGTON: Georgia plans to send about 500 soldiers to Afghanistan next year to bolster the NATO-led security force there, a US defense official said on Monday. Georgia, which wants to join the NATO alliance over objections from Russia, will deploy "the equivalent of a battalion" in Afghanistan in 2010, a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. Close to 90,000 foreign forces, most of them Americans, are stationed in Afghanistan, fighting an increasingly bloody insurgency being waged by the Taliban and its allies. Insurgent attacks have reached record highs in recent weeks in Afghanistan, raising concerns about security ahead of the war-torn country's second-ever presidential elections due in two months. About 2,000 Georgian troops were deployed in Iraq from August 2003 but were rushed back to Georgia in August last year amid a battle with Russian forces over South Ossetia. News of Georgia's plans came as the White House said US Vice President Joe Biden was due travel to Georgia and Ukraine between July 20 and 24.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 WASHINGTON: Georgia plans to send about 500 soldiers to Afghanistan next year to bolster the NATO-led security force there, a US defense official said on Monday. Georgia, which wants to join the NATO alliance over objections from Russia, will deploy "the equivalent of a battalion" in Afghanistan in 2010, a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. Close to 90,000 foreign forces, most of them Americans, are stationed in Afghanistan, fighting an increasingly bloody insurgency being waged by the Taliban and its allies. Insurgent attacks have reached record highs in recent weeks in Afghanistan, raising concerns about security ahead of the war-torn country's second-ever presidential elections due in two months. About 2,000 Georgian troops were deployed in Iraq from August 2003 but were rushed back to Georgia in August last year amid a battle with Russian forces over South Ossetia. News of Georgia's plans came as the White House said US Vice President Joe Biden was due travel to Georgia and Ukraine between July 20 and 24.
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