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U.S. diplomat responds cautiously to Georgia military transit offer

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U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on Friday that Georgia's offer of military cargo transit for NATO troops to Afghanistan should be studied by U.S. military officials before it could be accepted.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on Friday that Georgia's offer of military cargo transit for NATO troops to Afghanistan should be studied by U.S. military officials before it could be accepted.

President Mikheil Saakashvili has recently offered Georgia's Black Sea ports to NATO military supply ships and its airports as refueling points for NATO cargo planes en route to Afghanistan.

"The president did mention his offer. I indicated [to] him that really this was something that needed to be discussed with [the] Pentagon," Steinberg said on Friday after his meeting with Saakashvili in Tbilisi.

"The question is what their demands and needs are. I encouraged him and his administration to talk with the relevant people on preparing our various logistic needs to support the effort in Afghanistan," he said.

Tbilisi believes that the proposed transit route from Romania via the Black Sea, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan would boost global as well as its national and regional security and will be less expensive than the existing corridor through Russia.

Georgia's desire to join NATO has been central to Saakashvili's foreign policy since he came to power in 2004. The alliance has put Georgia's bid on hold, although it promised to revisit the decision in the future.

Georgia has made a number of contributions to the NATO-led military campaign in war-torn Afghanistan, including the deployment of at least 700 troops as part of the international coalition fighting Taliban militants.

Some experts believe the Georgian move could unnerve and infuriate Russia because Moscow would not want to see an increased presence of NATO ships in the Black Sea.

The transit of NATO military cargoes via Georgia would also make it harder for Russia to bloc Georgia's rearmament by Western powers following the August 2008 brief war between Moscow and Tbilisi over South Ossetia.

Moscow and Washington are already working closely to establish regular transits of Afghanistan-bound cargoes via Russia.

 

TBILISI, February 5 (RIA Novosti)

 

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