(Tbilisi, February 28, Civil Georgia) – US Department of Defense [DOD] confirmed that USA officials are making plans to help Georgia to train and equip its armed forces. “Such assistance would ultimately help the war on global terrorism,” Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke stated at the news briefing on February 27.
U.S. European Command officials, working with their Georgian counterparts, are in the early stages of the planning for the train and equip program, said Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“proposal to move forward that would make sense to both of our governments,” Pace said. “It has not been approved. It is simply an assessment that is ongoing to see where Georgia thinks they may need assistance, and for us to see where we want to help.”
“The first part, we are still very much in the formative stages, in the assessment stage, in the planning between the U.S. European Command military folks and their counterparts in Georgia. Once they’ve fleshed out a plan and have it ready for proposal to both of our governments, they will do that. So the number of trainers and the duration, those kinds of things are all part of what would eventually come forward, but right now it’s very much in the formative stages and, again, needs to be submitted to both governments for approval,” Gen. Peter Pace stated.
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