U.S. to Help Fight Terrorists in Caucasus

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 26 -- The United States will help the former Soviet republic of Georgia battle terrorists who are believed to have moved into the Caucasus region, ABCNEWS has learned.

Senior military officials said the United States will begin to "train and equip" missions in Georgia "sooner rather than later" following the recommendations of an assessment team that returned from the region about a month ago.

Between 100 and 200 American soldiers will be involved, carrying out an operation described as similar to one under way in the Philippines. There, 660 troops are conducting a joint operation with Philippine forces, including 160 U.S. special forces soldiers who are training the Filipinos to combat terrorism.

Military officials said they have seen "pretty clear evidence" that some members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network have moved into the Pankisi Gorge — a crime-ridden area near the breakaway Russian province of Chechnya.

In recent comments carried in the Georgian media, the U.S. chargé d'affaires put the number of al Qaeda terrorists there in the dozens.

Adding to the Obligations

The new training mission would mark the third active front in the U.S. war on terror after Afghanistan and the Philippines.

Russia had been hoping to be part of a joint operation in the region, where it has been reluctant to allow U.S. forces to operate independently.

To assuage Russian concerns, U.S. officials said, the military will make an effort at pursuing "transparency" in the operation.

U.S. officials said this would have been "unthinkable" before Sept. 11, and will ultimately prove another example of the United States' warming relationship with its former Cold War enemy.