Pankisi Gorge

The Pankisi Gorge (Lang-ka|პანკისის ხეობა, "Pankisis Kheoba") or Pankisi (პანკისი) is a valley region in Georgia, in the northeastern corner of the country, bordering the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation. Administratively, it is included in the Akhmeta district of the Kakheti region. An ethnic group called Kists of Chechen background form the majority in the area.

It had allegedly often been used as a base for transit, training and shipments of arms and financing by Chechen rebels and Islamic militants, many of whom followed Ruslan Gelayev.

Russia has attempted to attack the Chechen militants in the gorge. 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.

Landmine Monitor warns of antipersonnel mines being laid in the Gorge. A number of casualties have resulted in landmines still being encountered in the Gorge. [cite web
title=LM Report 2002
url=http://www.icbl.org/lm/2002/georgia.html
date=2005-02-25
accessdate=2007-01-15 ] [cite web
title=LM Report 2006
url=http://www.icbl.org/lm/2006/georgia.html
date=2006-09-12
accessdate=2007-01-15 ]

Under the Georgia Train and Equip Program, at the end of February 2002 the United States began training the Georgian military in response to the situation in the Gorge. It offered $64 million and approximately 200 Special Operations Forces were sent to train and equip four 300-man Georgian battalions with light weapons, vehicles and communications. Currently, the situation in the region is largely stable and the operation ended in September 2007.

References

External links

*Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program [http://www.eucom.mil/english/GSSOP/index.asp]