TBILISI, July 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The final stage of a command post exercise (CPX) in the framework of the U.S. program for training and equipping Georgian units is winding up in the Defense Ministry's National Military Control Center.
Captain Kelly Smith of the U.S. instructor team told a news conference on Wednesday that this stage represents a summing up and a kind of exam for the 70 Georgian commissioned officers who have for two months been trained by U.S. specialists in the Georgian Military Academy.
A computer program emulates a combat situation as close to reality as possible, offering the Georgian officers a possibility to rehearse actions in critical situations, Smith said.
In accordance with the program's scenario, Georgian law- enforcers are to work out and execute an operation to establish order in the area in the north of the Dusheti district, where a powerful drug-smuggling gang has acted for two years, Smith said.
The Dusheti district is located close to the ill-known Pankisi Gorge and Georgian-Russian state border.
The U.S. program of training and equipping Georgian army units covers a period of two years. U.S. instructors are expected to train about 2,000 Georgian servicemen in the framework of the program.
The United States has appropriated USD64m for the program.