By Dr. Chandan Kumar

New Delhi [India], October 21(ANI): The 3rd Special Course for Diplomats from Central Asia (SCDCA) is taking place at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (SSIFS), under the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, from October 14 to 25, 2024.

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Twenty-eight diplomats from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are attending the two-week program. Amb Raj Kumar Srivastava, Dean of SSIFS, inaugurated the course and highlighted the guiding principles of India's foreign policy in his opening remarks.

India shares historical and civilization linkages with the five Central Asian Republics. These have been strengthened through high level visits, regular exchanges and expanding development cooperation.

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The special course encompasses modules covering areas of mutual significance such as: India's Relations with Central Asia including cultural & historical links; Global political and economic landscapes; Reform of Multilateral Institutions; Defence & Security Partnership and Civil Use of Nuclear Energy; Sustainable development partnerships between India & the Global South; Climate Change and Sustainable Practices in water management, renewable energy, Tourism, Food and Agriculture; Digital Public Infrastructure & Responsible Al for all and Yoga and Ayurveda.

At the same time, two high-level delegations are visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In a post, the Indian Embassy in Kazakhstan wrote: "The exercise aims to enhance teamwork, improve interoperability, refine tactical expertise, and strengthen Defence Cooperation between the two nations."

"The Indian Army and Kazakhstan Army are actively engaged in the 8th edition of Exercise KAZIND 2024, honing their skills through tactical and combat drills. This crucial training focuses on Counter-Terrorism Operations in a sub-conventional environment under the United Nations Mandate."

Continuing their study tour in Almaty, a delegation from the Indian Army War College visited prestigious military educational institutions and defence industrial establishments at Almaty.

Delegation from the Indian Army War College during their study tour visited the Embassy of India, interacted with Ambassador TV Nagendra Prasad.

They also visited the National Defence University and prominent defence industrial establishments at Astana.

The 8th edition of India-Kazakhstan Joint Military Exercise KAZIND-2024 was held from September 30, 2024, at Surya Foreign Training Node, Auli, Uttarakhand. The exercise is scheduled to be conducted from 30th September to 13th October 2024. Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 has been held annually since 2016. Last edition of the Joint Exercise was held at Otar, Kazakhstan from 30th October to 11th November 2023.

The Indian Armed Forces, comprising 120 personnel, are being represented by a battalion of the KUMAON Regiment of the Indian Army, along with other arms and services, as well as personnel from the Indian Air Force. The Kazakhstan contingent will be represented mainly by personnel from Land Forces and Airborne Assault Troopers.

Aim of the Joint Exercise is to enhance joint military capability of both sides to undertake counter terrorism operations in a sub conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The Joint Exercise will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous terrain. Objectives to be achieved from the Joint Exercise are high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at tactical level and sharing of best practices.

Tactical drills to be rehearsed during the Joint Exercise include joint response to a terrorist action, establishment of a Joint Command Post, establishment of an Intelligence and Surveillance Centre, securing of helipad / landing site, combat free fall, Special Heliborne Operations, Cordon and Search operations, besides employment of drones and counter drone systems among others.

Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 will enable both sides to share best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures of conducting joint operations. It will facilitate developing interoperability, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies. The Joint Exercise will also enhance defence cooperation, further augmenting bilateral relations between the two friendly nations.

Another similar delegation of officers of the Higher Defence Management Course visited the Academy of Armed forces and the Centre for Strategy Development of Uzbekistan and had meaningful discussions with the faculty at these institutions.

A 22-member delegation of the officers led by Commodore Prashant Sidhaye from Higher Defence Management Course is visiting the country.

The delegation of the officers of 20th Higher Defence Management Course called on the officials of the Ministry of Defence of Uzbekistan to have discussions related to India-Uzbekistan bilateral defence ties.

India has longstanding and wide-ranging cooperation with Uzbekistan in the field of defence. Bilateral defence cooperation is carried out through the Joint Working Group format, established in 2019 and the fourth JWG meeting was held in Uzbekistan in April 2024. India & Uzbekistan regularly participate in joint military exercises "DUSTLIK", with the fifth edition held in April 2024 and attended by COAS General Manoj Pande during his visit to Uzbekistan.

Defence cooperation has acquired a new level of intensity following the visit of the then Defence Minister of Uzbekistan Maj. Gen. Abdusalam Azizov from 4-7 September 2018 and the visit of Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Uzbekistan on 1-3 November 2019. An MoU on Military Medicine was signed. As a follow up of MoU on Military Education signed in October 2018, two institutional level MoUs were also signed for cooperation in training and capacity building.

RM inaugurated the first-ever joint military exercise between India and Uzbekistan from 4-14 November 2019.

India and Uzbekistan share common perspectives on a number of security issues, including on terrorism, trans-national organized crime, illegal trafficking and smuggling, etc. The main focus of our engagement in this sphere has been to provide assistance to Uzbek security agencies through training and capacity building. (ANI)

(Dr. Chandan Kumar, Ph. D in Buddhist History, is a young scholar. He is working as Assistant Professor, Department of History, Satyawati College, University of Delhi)

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