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The adoption
in October of last year of an amendment to
the fiscal year 2002 foreign aid bill
allowing the President to waive Section 907
of the Freedom Support Act has opened the
door to U.S. military assistance, transfers,
and sales to the Azerbaijani government.
This development will have far-reaching
negative impact on American interests in the
Caucasus and Caspian region by:
1) destabilizing the regional balance by
arming an Azerbaijani government whose
senior officials, including the President,
Foreign Minister, and Defense Minister,
regularly announce their intention to use
their increased military capabilities
against Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan
reinforced this point, during Congressional
debate on Section 907 last October, by its
absolute insistence that the amendment
providing the President with the authority
to waive this law not include a specific
prohibition on the use of U.S. military aid
against Nagorno Karabakh;
2) sending the dangerous signal to
Azerbaijan that the U.S. does not take
seriously - or even tacitly supports -
renewed aggression against Nagorno Karabakh
or Armenia;
3) hindering the OSCE peace process by
increasing the threat to Nagorno Karabakh;
4) placing U.S. weapons in the hands of an
Azerbaijani government that, according to
the Director of the Congressional Task Force
on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, has
allowed Islamic terrorists the "free flow of
people, weapons and ordnance through
Azerbaijan" in exchange for not interfering
with or overthrowing the government of
Azerbaijani president Geidar Aliyev.
(Defense & Foreign Affairs’ Strategic
Policy," The New Azerbaijan Hub: How
Islamist operations are targeting Russia,
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh," October
1999). |
