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Terror Networks
Pankisi Gorge backgrounder
2002-02-28
  • Georgia's top security officer, Valery Khaburdzania said his agents had arrested dozens of Afghans, Saudis and Jordanians, many without identity documents, who entered Georgia on the run from Afghanistan or Central Asia, trying to reach safety in the Pankisi Gorge. Some were planning terrorist acts against Russia, he said. Others were trying to make their way to Europe and, perhaps, the United States. Both Georgian and American officials said they believed dozens of Afghan and Arab militants were still on the loose. A Chechen commander, Ruslan Gelayev, has set up training camps for fighters who use the gorge as a rear area for rest, training and arms supply. Western officials say some criminals also operate from the gorge, in league with corrupt Georgian politicians.

    "Afghans are going there for a breather and, unfortunately, the region has become a hide-out" and a "hotbed of tension for us," Mr. Khaburdzania said. "The drug business is flourishing. We can't control everything that is going on there, and unless we tackle the Pankisi problem, this issue will create a threat to Georgia's integrity and the security of the region." The Pankisi Gorge is a haven for the Muslim Chechens in part because it houses Georgia's tiny population of Kistinians, who share the Chechens' language and faith. The leadership of the Chechen rebellion is split between President Aslan Maskhadov, who is in hiding, and powerful field commanders like Shamil Basayev and a Jordanian known as Khattab.
    First problem is going to be unraveling who's who. This will not be an easy operation...
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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