Another 100 U.S. troops are scheduled to be sent to Yemen, further expanding the spread of U.S. imperialist forces throughout Central Asia and the Middle East.

According to officials from both Washington and Tbilisi, the U.S. troops in Georgia, who are expected to be drawn from units of Special Operations forces, will train some 1,200 government soldiers in operations in the Pankisi Gorge, a region that borders Russia.

U.S. officials have justified the intervention by saying that al Qaeda forces and other so-called terrorists have found haven in the gorge. Preliminary negotiations and arms deals predated the Pentagon's assault on Afghanistan, however. A "senior U.S. diplomat" told the Wall Street Journal that "this has been in the works for months...going back to last fall."

Asked whether the U.S. forces planned to conduct the sort of surveillance flights in Georgia that it has begun to carry out in the Philippines, one U.S. defense official boasted that "we've got some significant surveillance assets in that [Georgian] theater that give us a pretty good look at threats on the ground."

With this agreement, Georgia becomes the latest of the former Soviet republics to welcome U.S. troops and military hardware onto their soil since September last year. The others are Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. In the case of Georgia, and in contrast to the other three, top Russian government officials have shown signs of divisions and unease over the U.S. intervention. Foreign minister Igor Ivanov said at the end of February that the deployment could "further exacerbate what is already a complex situation in the region."  
 
Putin gives green light
Two days later, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave the U.S. commitment his approval at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States. U.S. troops were already present in Central Asia, he said, and it would be "no tragedy" if they appeared in Georgia as well. Moscow backed the "antiterrorism" campaign, he emphasized, "No matter who is taking part in it, whether it's our American or European partners, or our Georgian colleagues themselves, directly."

The Russian government has unsuccessfully pressured Tbilisi to expel 8,000 Chechen refugees who have fled to the Pankisi Gorge. Moscow claims they provide shelter for some 1,500 Chechen separatist fighters, and has gone so far as to bomb Georgian territory in its pursuit of the rebels.

Washington has also gained the agreement of the government in Yemen to station U.S. forces there. The 100 troops "would consist predominantly of special forces, but could also include intelligence experts and other specialists," reported the New York Times, noting that "the military campaign appears to be expanding by the week."

Yemen's ambassador to the United States told the Washington Post that his government has asked for a wide range of military assistance. "We're asking for everything," said Abdulwahab Alhajjri. "You name it, we want it."  
 
 
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