Following President Obama’s compelling speech on our common mission in Afghanistan, NATO members and other countries pledged about 7,000 additional troops for this critical effort. My country, Georgia, committed just under 1,000 of that total. As Secretary of State Clinton observed, this likely makes Georgia the highest per-capita troop contributor to NATO’s operation in Afghanistan.
This is not easy for our small nation, with its population of just 4.7 million. Our economy, like those of other countries, has been buffeted by the global economic downturn. Unlike most countries, we are struggling with a recent invasion that ethnically cleansed tens of thousands of Georgian citizens and an illegal occupation of 20% of Georgia’s sovereign territory.
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