On Pentagon’s Military Aid to Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has gotten $20 million in military aid from the U.S. Department of Defense over the last ten years, while Armenia has gotten nearly nothing, the www.eurasianet.org website reported.

While the U.S. State Department has traditionally administered most foreign military aid, since the onset of the "War on Terror" the Defense Department has taken on increasing responsibility for military aid. And although the U.S. State Department for the most part observes a policy of "parity" in aid to the two countries, the Department of Defense has been less cautious in maintaining a balance. Baku has benefited in particular from two Pentagon aid programs, known as Section 1004 and Section 1206, which are subject to less Congressional oversight and less stringent public reporting requirements. 

According to the author, Joshua Kucher, Azerbaijan has gotten $8.5 million since 2005 in funding from Section 1004, which provides counternarcotics assistance, and $11.5 million from Section 1206, which provides counterterrorism aid. Armenia, by contrast, has gotten just $41,000 in Section 1004 funding and no Section 1206 money, according to data collected by the Washington advocacy group Security Assistance Monitor, which maintains a database of the various U.S. military assistance programs.

Much of the money for Azerbaijan has been targeted toward naval forces, to reduce the risk that it could be used against Armenia (which is landlocked) and because of the U.S.'s interest in protecting Caspian energy infrastructure. The U.S. force has focused particularly on Azerbaijan's 641st Special Warfare Naval Unit with a curriculum that has included "Diving and Floating Mine Response."

U.S. policy has been to attempt to be even-handed by restricting aid to Armenia equally. The Departments of State and Defense, in their annual report on military aid to Congress in 2008, wrote that "Section 907 previously prohibited most U.S. assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan and as part of a policy of even-handedness, the previous Administration extended this prohibition to security assistance to Armenia." But the Pentagon aid programs clearly throw off that balance in Azerbaijan's favor. 

Although the $20 million that Azerbaijan has gotten is small even by regional standards -- Kyrgyzstan, for example, has gotten $118 million from the same programs over the same period -- it does represent a substantial portion of what might be the U.S.'s "hard" military aid (like weapons and training, as opposed to "softer" programs like counter-proliferation and English-language courses). Aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan from the primary State Department "hard" aid program, Foreign Military Financing, has declined steadily over the last ten years but has tended to range between $2 and $4 million per year -- and to be allocated in identical amounts to both countries.

Last month's flare-up in fighting between the two countries over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh -- the worst violence since a ceasefire was signed in 1994 -- has revived debate about U.S. military aid in the region. U.S. law, in particular another "Section" -- 907 -- has restricted U.S. aid to Azerbaijan since 1992, but since 2001 those restrictions have been waived every year. The most recent waiver was issued April 21.

According to the author, the U.S. aid to Azerbaijan is necessary to support United States efforts to counter international terrorism, is necessary to support the operational readiness of United States Armed Forces or coalition partners to counter international terrorism, is important to Azerbaijan's border security, and will not undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan or be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.   –02D----