Georgia May Deploy Troops in Mazar-i-Sharif

Georgia may deploy its troops in Mazar-i-Sharif, a strategic city in northern Afghanistan, under the German command, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on March 14.

PM Nogaideli, who is on a working visit to Germany on March 14-15, discussed the issue with German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung.

?I have discussed a number of issues, including the terms of the deployment of our troops in Afghanistan. We have discussed the possibility of deploying our troops in Mazar-i-Sharif,? PM Nogaideli told reporters.

President Saakashvili said on March 9 that Georgia will ?at this stage? send 100 Georgian servicemen to Afghanistan to contribute to NATO-led forces there.

?But this number may increase up to 200 by the end of this year,? he added.

Fifty Georgian servicemen from the 16th Mountain Battalion were deployed in Afghanistan for 100 days under the German command in 2004.

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