India, US starts joint military exercise in Uttarakhand

NEW DELHI: India and the US today kickstarted their joint military exercise at Chaubattia in Uttarakhand where they will practice counter-terrorist operations.

"The focus of the ongoing exercise is to carryout counter- insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in mountainous terrain under the United Nations (UN) Charter where the troops of an American infantry division will hold drills with the Garud division of the Indian Army," an Army release said.

Army's Central Command officer Maj Gen Ashwani Kumar urged both the contingents to achieve optimum cohesion and interoperability to achieve objectives of the exercise.

He stressed on the importance of free exchange of ideas and concepts between the troops and the necessity to learn from each others' experiences.

"The two-week event will see the contingents honing their tactical and technical skills in countering-insurgency and terrorism in UN Peace Keeping scenario involving a detachment of Special Forces," the release said.