Georgian forces on Monday launched a joint training exercise with the US military ahead of the deployment of hundreds of Georgian troops next spring in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said. US military co-operation with pro-Western Georgia has strained ties between the United States and Russia, which last year fought a five-day war with Georgia.
"The exercises are aimed at training Georgian servicemen to be deployed within the framework of the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force)," Georgian defence ministry spokeswoman Salome Makharadze told AFP. "The exercises will last for two weeks and involve a total of 840 servicemen, 420 Georgians and the same number of Americans," she added.
She said the 420 Georgian troops will leave for Afghanistan next spring and serve under US command. A company of Georgian servicemen is also to be sent to Afghanistan next month to serve under French command, Makharadze said. She could not specify how many Georgian troops would take part, but a company typically consists of 100-200 servicemen. The US embassy said in a statement that the exercise, called Immediate Response, "is specifically designed to enhance Georgia's ability to conduct joint counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan together with US forces."
Moscow has accused Washington of meddling in the region and of rearming Georgia. More than 100,000 foreign troops, most of them Americans, are stationed in Afghanistan, fighting an increasingly bloody insurgency being waged by the Taliban and its allies.
About 2,000 Georgian troops were deployed with US forces in Iraq from August 2003 but were rushed back to Georgia in August last year for the war with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.