WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (AFP) - The United States on Thursday welcomed Georgia's decision to pull troops out of the separatist pro-Russia republic of South Ossetia and called for a political settlement to ease tensions in the region.
"We certainly welcome" Georgia's withdrawal from South Ossetia, US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
"It sends the right signal," Ereli said. "And we call on all sides to build on this proposal, to reduce tensions and to move the political process forward."
The United States is "working very actively" with Georgia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Russia to promote dialogue and a political solution to the crisis in the former Soviet republic.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday highlighted US concerns over the situation in South Ossetia to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Georgian forces on Thursday left their positions in South Ossetia to Russian peacekeepers.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had said earlier in the day his country was poised to strike further into South Ossetia, but that he would prefer to withdraw its troops and begin political negotiations.
In one week of combat, 24 Georgian soldiers died and 50 others were wounded, according to Georgian authorities.
Inhabited mainly by ethnic Ossetians, South Ossetia has enjoyed de facto independence after an armed conflict with Tbilisi following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.