Pankisi Gorge
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The Pankisi Gorge is a valley region in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, northeast of Tbilisi, which is being used as a base for transit, training and shipments of arms and financing by Islamic militants, many of whom follow Khattab.
As part of the "War on Terrorism", at the end of February 2002 the United States began offering assistance to Georgia to combat the militants, with $64 million and approximately 200 Special Operations Forces to train and equip four 300-man Georgian battalions with light weapons, vehicles and communications.