Georgia to send more troops to Iraq

TBILISI, March 4 (Reuters) Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili today said his former Soviet nation would send more troops to Iraq to take part in the multinational peacekeeping force.

Georgia, a tiny Caucasus nation seeking closer ties with the West as well as NATO membership, is a key US ally in the Caucasus region.

Georgia has backed US efforts in Iraq and currently maintains about 850 troops there.

''We intend to increase our participation in Iraq and offer more help to our American and Iraqi colleagues,'' Saakashvili said in televised remarks.

He gave no details and added his nation also wanted to strengthen its peacekeeping effort in Afghanistan.

''We are also ready to send troops to Afghanistan to take part in the NATO operation there,'' he said without elaborating.

The United States has given strong backing to Georgia's desire to join NATO, but Georgian membership is likely to irk Russia which seeks to retain influence on former Soviet states rather than lose them to the West.

REUTERS SHB PM1828