Operation Enduring Freedom - Pankisi Gorge

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The Pankisi Gorge is a region of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, near the border with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Many of the residents of the Gorge region are ethnically similar to the residents of Chechnya. During the 1st and the 2nd war in Chechnya, Chechen warriors frequently crossed the Chechnya-Georgia border and used the Pankisi Gorge as a base for operations in Chechnya.

In late February 2002, as part of its War on Terror, the U.S. sent approximately two hundred Special Operations Forces troops to Georgia to train Georgian troops. This move drew protests from many Russians, who believed that Georgia should remain within the Russian sphere of influence, and not the United States'. On March 1, 2002, over domestic outcry, Russian president Vladimir Putin met with Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze in Kazakhstan and pledged his support for the American military initiative.

U.S. officials announced that sixty-four million dollars was provided to train and equip four three-hundred man battalions with light weapons, vehicles and communications. The program was said to be tied to Operation Enduring Freedom as a means to speed up funding.^[1]

Russia also attempted to attack the Chechen militants in the gorge. In September, Russian officials announced they had concluded a deal with Georgia to allow the Russian military access to the gorge, but that announcement was disputed by Georgia. Georgia has also accused Russia of carrying out bombing raids in the gorge region in which at least one Georgian civilian was believed to have perished.

In 2003–2004 as part of ongoing counterterrorism activities, the US funded the Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP) to train four Georgian army battalions, a mechanized company, and small numbers of Interior Ministry troops and border guards.^[2]