TASHKENT. July 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Uzbekistan's armed units are holding an exercise in the country's Southwestern Military District.
Defense Ministry, Border Guard Committee and Interior Ministry units and local law enforcement agencies are engaged in the exercise in spurs of the Gissar ridge in the Kashkadarya region. The exercise will continue until the end of August, the Uzbek Defense Ministry's press service told Interfax on Friday.
"The skirmishes with terrorist groups in Uzbekistan in 2000 showed that armed units must be better trained in fighting in mountainous areas. For this reason the Defense Ministry has been staging such exercises since 2001 to train on joint action for units from various services," Lieutenant Colonel Kamil Dzhabbarov, head of the press service, told Interfax.
Special-purpose units and military topographer are assigned the mission to make detailed maps of the area adjacent to Tajikistan, he went on. "The maps that we have were made yet in the Soviet times: But time flies, and terrain is changing. For instance, there was a mountain path once upon a time, but now it is gone," he said.
Uzbekistan has been conducting the Armed Forces reform for more than a year. The reform aims at creating a small, mobile and well-equipped army. Under the new Doctrine of Defense, the Defense Ministry's troops will lay off about 15,000 personnel before 2005. The Armed Forces are expected to total 52,000 to 53,000 personnel by that year.
Recruitment of personnel for professional military service is underway in Uzbekistan. The term of active-duty service has been reduced by 18 months to one year. The demographic situation in the country allowed the government to start selecting recruits for active-duty service on a competitive basis in spring this year. Those who fail the competition are assigned to the mobilization reserve.
Five military districts have been created on the Uzbek territory.