Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said the military budget must increase in order to better defend the security of the country.
He ordered the Georgian Defense Ministry to prepare for the "total defense" of the country at a meeting with senior officials from the Defense Ministry and the United Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces on Wednesday.
Saakashvili said that in the past the army trained primarily for involvement in peacekeeping operations. But now, more attention needed to be paid to defending "every village, every street, every district."
He spoke of the importance of improving the quality of military training and expressed dissatisfaction with the standard of training at military academies where "much must be changed."
"We need more good officers," he said, adding that over 800 officers were dismissed in the course of the current reforms.
"Only valuable personnel must remain" in the army, the president said.
He said the armed forces were in possession of modern weapons but providing more training to officers is a greater priority.
"The Georgian army is sufficiently armed today," he said. "More funds must be spent on training."
He said that involvement in the NATO operation in Afghanistan "is a good school for the Georgian military."
Georgia should not stop its involvement in Afghanistan but on the contrary expand it, he said, adding that talks with partners are under way already.
