MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia will not join NATO next year as it was earlier stated by President Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian defense minister said on Monday.
In an interview with Russian magazine Kommersant Vlast, Defense Minister Irakly Alasaniya said it was “unrealistic” that Georgia would join the military bloc next year, denying Saakashvili’s pledge in 2012 that the country would obtain NATO membership in 2014.
The minister also said that Georgia prepares for withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan and was ready to take part in other NATO-led military operations.
Georgia is the largest non-NATO contributor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan with over 1,500 troops deployed in the Helmand province and in the capital, Kabul.
In all, 29 Georgian servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan since 2009, when Georgia joined the NATO-led force fighting Taliban in the war-torn Central Asian country.
