Civil Georgia
June 6, 2013
Seven Georgian Soldiers Die in Afghan Truck Bomb Attack
Tbilisi: Seven Georgian servicemen were killed and nine wounded after a truck bomb hit one of the forward operating bases in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on June 6, less than a month after three Georgian soldiers died in a similar incident in Helmand.
At the time when the Georgian Ministry of Defense (MoD) first made the announcement late on Thursday about the attack, six soldiers were confirmed dead and MoD said that rescue operation was underway to recover one serviceman from rubble left by the powerful explosion.
But shortly before the midnight on Thursday the MoD said that the soldier was found dead in rubble, increasing death toll from the June 6 attack to seven.
Injuries of nine soldiers are not life threatening, said Irakli Dzneladze, chief of the joint staff of the Georgian armed forces.
He said that the attack was carried out by “a suicide bomber” with an explosives-laden truck.
For the Georgian troops this attack brought the largest death toll in any single incident since joining ISAF mission in November, 2009.
This recent attack brings total death toll of the Georgian soldiers in ISAF mission to 29.
Three Georgian troops died in a similar incident on May 13, 2013 when an explosives-laden truck hit their outpost in the Helmand province.
25-year-old corporal Teimuraz Ortavidze; corporal Giorgi Adamov, 23; private first class Zurab Gurgenashvili, 32; private Mikheil Narindoshvili, 26; private Boris Tsugoshvili, 29; private first class Zviad Sulkhanishvili, 22, and private first class Giorgi Guchashvili, 21, (the latter’s dead body was found in rubble) died in the June 6 attack.
All were from from the 42nd light infantry battalion of the fourth brigade, which was deployed in the Helmand province in April, 2013. Total of ten soldiers from this battalion have died since deployment in Afghanistan in April.
President Saakashvili expressed condolences over death of the Georgian soldiers in a live televised address. He declared June 7 a national day of mourning.
“Georgia has made yet another sacrifice on its difficult path to freedom, independence and joining the family of world’s civilized nations,” Saakashvili said. “It is our obligation before the memory of our fallen soldiers not to give up, not to step back and to continue moving towards the Euro-Atlantic space, to continue daily struggle for Georgia’s independence.”
PM Ivanishvili released a written statement expressing condolences over “appalling tragedy that hit Georgia.”
Chief of the Georgian army staff, Irakli Dzneladze, said that despite of this recent attack “the Georgian soldiers, who are protecting security of our country in this international mission, will not step back.”
Georgia became the largest non-NATO troop contributor to ISAF mission after it almost doubled its presence in Afghanistan to over 1,560 soldiers last autumn.
Georgia has two battalions in the Helmand province and up to 50 soldiers in Kabul.
Georgia’s first contribution to the Afghan operation came in 2004 when 50 soldiers were briefly deployed in the country under the German command as part of ensuring security during the presidential elections.
In November, 2009 Georgia deployed 173 soldiers in Kabul under the French command and in following year Georgia increased presence in Afghanistan by sending an infantry battalion in the Helmand province serving along with the U.S. marines and Georgia sent one more battalion to the Helmand province in autumn, 2012. Currently 50 Georgian soldiers remain in the Afghan capital Kabul; they were initially under the French command, but as France gradually withdraws its troops from Afghanistan, Georgian troops in Kabul were placed this month under the U.S. command and redeployed at the Camp Phoenix – the base in Kabul which is used primarily by the U.S. forces involved in the training of the Afghan army.
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Civil Georgia
June 5, 2013
NATO, Georgian Defense Ministers Meeting
NATO Defence Ministers met with their Georgian counterpart Irakli Alasania in frames of NATO-Georgia Commission in Brussels on 5 June to discuss Georgia’s reform plans and further cooperation.
“We greatly appreciate the active support that Georgia has made to our operations – past and present,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in his opening remarks at the NATO-Georgia Commission. “We greatly value the professionalism and the courage of Georgian troops. And we honor their sacrifice. These efforts are all the more impressive given the demanding defence reforms that Georgia is now undertaking.”
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“And I look forward to a future in which Georgia is in the Alliance. The decisions taken at the NATO Summit in Bucharest still stand. Georgia will become a member of NATO provided it meets the requirements for membership,” he added.
NATO said in a press release that defense ministers from the Alliance thanked Georgia for its readiness to participate in the post-2014 mission in Afghanistan “in order to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces” and hailed Georgia’s “dynamic efforts and achievements in moving towards Euro-Atlantic integration.”
Alasania also participated on June 5 in a meeting of NATO defence ministers with counterparts from non-NATO ISAF contributing nations. The meetings were part of two-day NATO defense ministerial event that focused on cyber defence, the mission in Afghanistan and military capabilities.
Speaking at a news conference, summing up two-day NATO defense ministerial meeting, Rasmussen said on June 5, that Georgia was NATO’s “committed partner.” He also said that Georgia was conducting reforms which “are demanding, and far-reaching.”
“Today, [defense] ministers expressed their appreciation for all Georgia has done to support our common goals. They reaffirmed NATO’s continued support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders. And they made clear that they are ready to support and assist Georgia as it moves ahead with its reforms,” Rasmussen said.
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Asked about so called ‘borderisation’ process by the Russian troops across breakaway South Ossetia’s administrative boundary line, Rasmussen said that installation of wire fences was “a violation of international law” and of 2008 ceasefire agreements.
“Building fences impedes freedom of movement, it can further inflame tensions, it is simply not acceptable,” the NATO Secretary General said. “We urge Russia to live up to her international obligations.”
Asked about detention of former PM and secretary general of UNM party Vano Merabishvili, Rasmussen responded that NATO was “following these developments with great concern.”
“Obviously we are not going to interfere with legal cases and the judiciary in Georgia. In today’s meeting with the Georgian Minister of Defense I made clear, and ministers made clear, that we take it for granted that the Georgian authorities will fully respect the fundamental principles of rule of law and will guarantee due process. We have made clear that even the perception of politically motivated arrests should be avoided and we expect Georgia to live up to those fundamental principles,” Rasmussen said.
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