Editing Pankisi (section)

==Pankisi Gorge crisis and local links to Salafi-jidhadism==
{{main|Pankisi Gorge crisis}}
[[File:Pankisi Gorge, Flag of Ichkeria and Georgia.jpg|thumb|right|The flags of the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] and [[Flag of Georgia (country)|Georgia]] flying side-by-side in the Pankisi Gorge]]

The Pankisi Gorge crisis was a 2002 geopolitical dispute that arose as a direct result of the Second Chechen War, and which was shaped by the U.S. Global War on Terror and pre-existing tensions between Russia and Georgia.<ref name="McGregor-2005" /> From 1999, thousands of refugees from the war in Chechnya, 25 miles to the north, congregated in the valley, including some armed rebels.<ref name="Filkins-2003">{{cite news |last1=Filkins |first1=Dexter |title=U.S. Entangled in Mystery of Georgia's Islamic Fighters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/world/us-entangled-in-mystery-of-georgia-s-islamic-fighters.html |access-date=21 March 2025 |publisher=New York Times |date=15 June 2003 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250321173641/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/world/us-entangled-in-mystery-of-georgia-s-islamic-fighters.html |archive-date=21 March 2025}}</ref> By 2002, Ruslan Gelayev, a Chechen commander was reported to have gathered hundreds of armed men there.

Russia wanted Georgia to act against Gelayev's band, but Georgia was in dispute with Russia over South Ossetia and [[Abkhazia]], and declined to do so. On the contrary, Gelayev's force allegedly fought on behalf of Georgia in Abkhazia in 2001.<ref name="McGregor-2005" />

Both Russian and U.S. leaders made public claims during 2002 and 2003 that [[Al-Qaeda]] was operating in the valley, and that a "Chechen network" associated with the organisation had learned to manufacture ricin, a lethal nerve agent. In Russia's case, the claims, which were unfounded, may have been made in an effort to persuade the U.S. to put pressure on Georgia to expel Gelayev and his men.<ref name="McGregor-2005" /> In the event, Gelayev led his column out of Georgia and back onto Russian territory in September 2003, after which Georgian authorities conducted an operation in the Pankisi Gorge.<ref name="McGregor-2005" /><ref name="Filkins-2003" /> It netted 15 alleged militants of Arab heritage, none of whom were thought to have been senior.<ref name="McGregor-2005" /> 

Nonetheless, in [[Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations Security Council]] in February 2003, the [[Secretary of State]] claimed to know that associates of the Al-Qaeda leader [[Musab al-Zarqawi]] had 

{{Blockquote
|text=been active in the Pankisi Gorge, Georgia and in Chechnya, Russia. The plotting to which they are linked is not mere chatter. Members of Zarqawi's network say their goal was to kill Russians with toxins.<ref name="Powelltranscript-part9">{{cite web |title=Transcript of Powell's U.N. presentation, Part 9: Ties to al-Qaeda |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/02/05/sprj.irq.powell.transcript.09/index.html |publisher=CNN |access-date=21 March 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20151012150802/http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/02/05/sprj.irq.powell.transcript.09/index.html |archive-date=12 October 2015}}</ref>}}

Powell showed a slide that depicted a purported Al-Qaeda network under the command of al-Zarqawi, including a bearded man named Abu 'Atiya located in Pankisi, Georgia.<ref name="Powell-slide">{{cite web |last1=Powell |first1=Colin |title=Slide 43, February 2006 presentation to the United Nations |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/02/powell-slides/43.html |website=George W. Bush White House Archives |access-date=21 March 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709041048/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/02/powell-slides/43.html |archive-date=9 July 2012 |date=6 February 2003}}</ref> Abu 'Atiya was reportedly arrested in Azerbaijan on 12 August 2003, and deported to Jordan.<ref name="MooreTumelty-2008">{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Cerwyn |last2=Tumelty |first2=Paul |title=Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment |journal=Studies in Conflict and Terrorism |date=April 2008 |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=412-433 |doi=10.1080/10576100801993347 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10576100801993347 |access-date=21 March 2025 |publisher=Taylor & Francis}}</ref>

In 2008, the valley was reported to be peaceful despite the nearby [[Russo-Georgian war]], and substantial numbers of refugees from Chechnya remained living there
<ref>BBC News, Russia's reach unnerves Chechens, Wednesday, 16 January 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7189024.stm Retrieved September 29, 2010.</ref><ref>UNHCR, 'Chechen refugees in Pankisi Gorge resume normal life after Georgia scare', 1 October 2008. http://www.unhcr.org/48e389e12.html Retrieved September 29, 2010.</ref>

The former senior [[Islamic State]] leader [[Abu Omar al-Shishani|Tarkan Batirashvili]], otherwise known as "Omar the Chechen," grew up in Pankisi, which was still home to some of his family as of 2014.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28217590 | title=Georgian roots of Isis commander| work=[[BBC News]] | date=2014-07-09| last1=Akhmeteli| first1=Nina}}</ref> In 2014, Batirashvilii reportedly threatened to return to the area to lead a Muslim attack on Russian Chechnya.<ref name="Winfrey-2014">{{Cite web | url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-08/how-islamic-state-grooms-chechen-fighters-against-putin |author=Michael Winfrey|title=Islamic State Grooms Chechen Fighters Against Putin|work=[[Bloomberg Businessweek]] |date=October 9, 2014 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20141117073004/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-08/how-islamic-state-grooms-chechen-fighters-against-putin | archive-date=November 17, 2014 | url-status=dead}}</ref> However, the threat never came into fruition, and Batirashvili was killed during a battle in the [[Iraq|Iraqi]] town of [[Al-Shirqat]] in 2016.<ref name="Shishani-dead1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/953236/middle-east|title=Daesh says top leader Omar Al-Shishani killed in battle |date=14 July 2016 |work=Arab News |access-date=2016-07-13}}</ref>