Rumsfeld Visits Caucasus Nations

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made a whirlwind trip to three small Caucasus nations Saturday in an effort to boost the war on terrorism, promising closer aid and an end to sanctions on Armenia and Azerbaijan in return for increased military assistance to the United States.

Rumsfeld will visit Afghanistan today to address American troops guarding the Bagram air base north of Kabul, the Afghan capital, a U.S. military spokesman told Reuters.

Sgt. Maj. Raymond Cordell gave no further details of the visit, which had been kept a secret.

In his first stops on the tour, which will also take him to Europe, Rumsfeld told leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia that he expects Congress to lift sanctions against the two feuding nations by Dec. 24.

Both countries have agreed to allow planes supporting the Afghan war effort to use their airspace and have cooperated with efforts to freeze the assets of groups designated as terrorist organizations by President Bush.

Policies designed to limit access to U.S. military aid have had a reverse effect: They have barred the Bush administration from using the countries’ miliary bases and other wartime assets as Pentagon strategists wind down the war in Afghanistan and plan the second stage in the anti-terror campaign.

Rumsfeld’s visit to Azerbaijan was the first by an American defense secretary. The sanctions have barred the Pentagon from cooperating with Azerbaijan since 1992, and administration policy has extended those curbs to include neighboring Armenia. They were designed to pressure the two former Soviet republics to end their conflict and mutual blockade over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Rumsfeld thanked Azerbaijani President Heydar A. Aliyev at a meeting in the presidential palace in Baku, the capital, for his country’s assistance.

“In the days ahead, our Congress in Washington is going to be lifting the restrictions on military relationships between our two countries,” Rumsfeld said. “So this morning we also discussed how countries might work together to identify and strengthen cooperation between our armed forces.”

Bush has sought a waiver of the sanctions in a foreign aid bill now before a congressional conference committee, saying military aid to the two countries would help in carrying out the anti-terror campaign.

Aliyev said he had hoped Rumsfeld would announce that the lifting of the sanctions had been completed.

Rumsfeld stopped in Armenia before flying to Georgia for brief talks with President Eduard A. Shevardnadze, another ally in the Afghan war. Shevardnadze said the Pentagon has been helping to build the Georgian military and train border guards.

In each meeting, Rumsfeld focused on military aid and the war on terrorism.