( AP ) - Georgia will cut the size of its military contingent in Iraq from 2,000 soldiers and other personnel to around 300 by next summer, the country's defense minister said Friday.
David Kezerashvili told reporters the decision was part of a previously reached deal with U.S. military officials and wasn't connected to U.S. President George W. Bush's announcement Thursday night ordering gradual reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq.
"We had an agreement with the Americans that we would cut our military contingent by the summer of 2008," he said. "This was set up from the very beginning and, accordingly, there will be no talk at all about any sort of reduction before that time."
Under President Mikhail Saakashvili, the poor, ex-Soviet republic located in the strategic South Caucasus region has become a devoted U.S. ally and Saakashvili has aggressively pushed for membership in North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.
Earlier this year, Georgia boosted the size of its forces, who are involved peacekeeping operations in Kut, 160 kilometers southeast of Baghdad.
The deployment, while not enthusiastically supported, is embraced by many Georgians; monthly salaries for some peacekeeping troops run around $2,000 - a princely sum in a country afflicted by persistent poverty and high unemployment.
Georgia's parliament is also debating a measure to increase the overall size of the country's armed forces from 28,000 to 32,000, given the increasing number of international peacekeeping operations its forces are involved in.
Georgian troops are also serving in Kosovo and could soon be sent to Afghanistan.