[A-List] US, NATO In Grab For South Caucasus

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.azernews.net/view.php?d=3657

AzerNews (Azerbaijan)
March 18, 2004


US in race for influence in South Caucasus


-[T]he United States will wait only three more months
[for 'reforms]. The delegate stressed that if during
this period no serious steps were taken in the
direction of reforms, the United States would find it
hard to believe that the leadership of Azerbaijan
would manage to integrate the country into the
Euro-Atlantic structures. The second problem that the
United States wants to settle is not to give the
initiative in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus to the
European Union (EU) and Russia. The United States
wants to see the South Caucasus countries as ones
pursuing the U.S. government's policy in the EU.
-Azerbaijan and Georgia should be admitted to NATO
soon so that the United States could achieve its
goals. For this purpose, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces
should be brought to NATO standards.
[T]he [Azerbaijani] defense minister said, "Today, the
primary duty of the Azerbaijani Army is to liberate
our lands from Armenian occupation. It would be better
if the Upper Garabagh conflict were solved peacefully
within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and
international legal norms. If no peace is achieved, we
will free our lands by any means necessary."
-At the meeting with Azeri Defense Minister Safar
Abiyev on Saturday, General Wald stressed that NATO
intended to expand strategic cooperation with
Azerbaijan and assist in guarding this country's
energy resources.



Last week the United States sent three onsecutive
'delegations of landing troops' to the capital.
Emissaries of the Department of State and military
made up the majority of the members of the
delegations. The delegation of the U.S. college of Air
Forces, which arrived in Baku early last week,
was led by a top officer and also included Lynn
Pascoe, Assistance Secretary of State. However,
leading the third U.S. delegation to Baku was General
Charles Wald, Deputy Commander of the U.S. European
Command. Admiral Gregory Johnson, Commander of U.S.
Naval Forces in Europe and Commander-in-Chief of
Allied Forces in Southern Europe, was also among the
delegates.

On March 11, a U.S. delegation led by Bruce Rogers,
U.S. Deputy Political Advisor of NATO's mission, and
Erik Schultz, the U.S. State Department's Deputy
Director on security and political issues in Europe,
held important meetings in Baku. The aim of the three
delegations' visits was to discuss political and
military issues but not economic ones, as the issues
on economic relations including on the financing of
the BTC pipeline have already been settled. Today, the
United States is eager to solve some questions in
Azerbaijan. First, it is trying to direct the
leadership of Azerbaijan towards conducting economic
and political reforms in the country. According to a
diplomatic source, the economic and political reforms
were one of the primary issues discussed at President
Ilham Aliyev's meeting with Lynn Pascoe. During the
unofficial meeting one of the U.S. delegates even
stated that Azerbaijan has to take real steps in this
respect, noting that the United States will wait only
three more months. The delegate stressed that if
during this period no serious steps were taken in the
direction of reforms, the United States would find it
hard to believe that the leadership of Azerbaijan
would manage to integrate the country into the
Euro-Atlantic structures. The second problem that the
United States wants to settle is not to give the
initiative in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus to the
European Union (EU) and Russia. The United States
wants to see the South Caucasus countries as ones
pursuing the U.S. government's policy in the EU.
Pointing to the EU's increasing interest towards
Azerbaijan, Lynn Paskoe directly stated that the
United States was not willing to 'lag behind' in this
rivalry. He also voiced his desire to exchange views
with President Ilham Aliyev on 'great changes' in the
region. However, Azerbaijan and Georgia should be
admitted to NATO soon so that the United States could
achieve its goals. For this purpose, the Azerbaijani
Armed Forces should be brought to NATO standards.
Above all, it is necessary to settle the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Upper Garabagh.
Reno Harnish, the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, who
also took part in the meeting of Azerbaijani Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev with Erik Schultz and Bruce
Rogers, stated that the United States and NATO are
eager to cooperate with the South Caucasus countries
including Azerbaijan and establish stability in the
region. The U.S. government is waiting for Safar
Abiyev to visit Washington to define the ways for
bilateral military cooperation. Abiyev's standpoint is
that of the Azerbaijani state and people. While
receiving the delegation of the U.S. college of Air
Forces on March 9, the defense minister said, "Today,
the primary duty of the Azerbaijani Army is to
liberate our lands from Armenian occupation. It would
be better if the Upper Garabagh conflict were solved
peacefully within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity
and international legal norms. If no peace is
achieved, we will free our lands by any means
necessary." A U.S. delegation led by General Charles
Wald, who visited Baku on March 12-13, concluded the
'U.S. week in Baku'.

The meetings

On Saturday President Ilham Aliyev received a U.S.
delegation led by General Charles "Chuck" Wald, Deputy
Commander of the U.S. European Command. A two-day
visit by the Senior Advisory Group (SAG) of the U.S.
European Command started on Friday.

NATO to expand strategic cooperation

The U.S. delegation of senior government and military
officials included Admiral Gregory G. Johns, Commander
of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Commander-in-Chief
of Allied Forces in Southern Europe, Ambassador
Kenneth L. Brown, Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas,
Ambassador Lloyd Hand and Ambassador Robert Hunter.
Noting that the Azerbaijani-U.S. relations are
developing successfully in all spheres, President
Aliyev said that bilateral cooperation was of great
importance to strengthen peace and security in the
region. Underlining that Azerbaijan plays a very
important role in ensuring security in the region,
Aliyev underlined that he backed the peaceful solution
to conflicts within the international legal norms.
Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan was an ally of the
United States anti-terror combat and this alliance
would continue in the future. The Azerbaijani
President further voiced his confidence that his
country would continue to cooperate with the United
States to ensure the security of pipelines as part of
the Caspian Energy Resources Development program.
Touching upon the fight against global terrorism,
General Wald stressed that the recent terror attack
committed in Spain once again showed the necessity for
broad cooperation in this field. Underlining that the
Caspian border guard program is continuing
successfully, General Wald expressed the necessity for
close cooperation among the Caspian states in this
respect. He particularly stressed that Azerbaijan's
current foreign policy suggested that there would be
positive changes in the settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Upper Garabagh. At
the meeting with Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev
on Saturday, General Wald stressed that NATO intended
to expand strategic cooperation with Azerbaijan and
assist in guarding this country's energy resources. He
also expressed his gratitude to the leadership of
Azerbaijan for the country's active role in fighting
international terrorism. Admiral Johnson said,
"Azerbaijan has rich natural resources in the Caspian
Sea. The cooperation between the U.S. navy and the
Azerbaijani navy may ensure the security of these
resources. Joint activities in programs on
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are
also included in the sphere of this cooperation."
Touching upon the Cooperative Best Effort-2004 desert
training held in Azerbaijan, Admiral Johnson stressed
that "the high-level organization of the training
would reaffirm that Azerbaijan was a leading country
in the region."
Briefing
The U.S. delegation held a briefing at the
International Press Center on Saturday. General
Charles Wald said that the aim of the visit was to
develop "strategic and military cooperation with
Azerbaijan and to discuss future cooperation in this
sphere with President Ilham Aliyev." Underlining that
the United States doesn't intend to station its
military bases in the region, General Wald said
military relations would also be established with
Russia. Noting that his meeting with President Ilham
Aliyev made a deep impression on him, the General
said, "Ilham Aliyev is a prominent person in this
region." Admiral Johnson said that together with
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev he observed
the Azerbaijani Navy and Border Service. Johnson
underlined that during his meeting with Abiyev,
fighting international terrorism, joint activity in
the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
and on maintenance of stability in the region were in
focus. Further, Admiral Johnson thanked the
Azerbaijani government for assuming the organization
of NATO training to be arranged in Baku this April
with participation of seventeen countries as part of
the NATO's Partnership for Peace Program.

By Azernews Staff





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