Expanding the role of multilateral military relations with a number of countries, the Indian military is now actively involved in building up military ties with capable foreign partners.
With similar principles and doctrine, the Indian Army’s Special Forces Team arrived in Kyrgyzstan for a joint military drill as part of rising military ties between the two countries.
The Indian Army’s PARA Special Forces and the Kyrgyzstan Army’s 25th Special Forces Brigade on Friday began a two-week military exercise in Bishkes with the fundamental aim of counter-insurgency and anti-terrorist operations, according to the officials. The Indian side has been conducting exercises with Kyrgyz forces for ten years, since the Indian government formally initiated diplomatic ties.
The eighth edition of the special forces exercise, ‘Khanjar’ (Dagger in Hindi) was inaugurated at a facility of the special forces brigade of the national guards of the Kyrgyz Republic, authorities said.
The first edition took place in 2011 with the goal to increase abilities of counter insurgency warfare and hone their skills on different conditions to boost the asymmetric warfare capabilities. This ongoing two-week long exercise will be focused on high-altitude warfare, as well as counter-terror drills, the officials said.
Commander of Kyrgyz National Guard Colonel Ergeshov Talantbek, in his opening remarks, commended the high-altitude resilience of the two forces personnel and their growing interoperability, the officials said. The Indian Army operates High Altitude Warfare School in the Himalayas and several major military teams have seen high altitude training in this school, including Kyrgyzstan.
