India And Kazakhstan Join Forces In 13-Day Military Exercise To Boost Anti-Terror Cooperation

India and Kazakhstan will start a 13-day megawargame on Monday at the Otar military base in Kazakhstan. The goal is to improve their ability to work together to fight terrorism. On Sunday, 120 people from the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force departed for Kazakhstan to take part in the seventh version of the exercise “Kazind-2023.”

“In this edition of the exercise, both sides will practice conduct of counter terrorism operations in a sub-conventional environment under United Nations mandate,” the defense ministry stated.

Among other things, it said that both sides would practice “search and destroy operations, small team insertion and extraction operations, etc.”

“The scope of the exercise also includes conduct of counter unmanned aerial system operations,” the ministry stated.

“Exercise Kazind-2023 will provide an opportunity for both sides to gain an insight into the tactics, battle drills and procedures of each other, which is a prerequisite while operating under the ambit of the UN,” a statement said.

It said that the joint training would give them the skills, resilience, and teamwork they need to carry out military missions in urban and semi-urban areas.

“Both sides will get a chance to practice drills on a wide spectrum of combat skills and mutually learn from each other,” it stated.

“The exercise will give the contingents a chance to share their ideas and the best ways to do things.” It was also said that Exercise Kazind would make the relationship between the two forces even stronger.

The 90-person Indian Army team is led by a company from the Dogra Regiment.

The Kazakhstan force is mostly made up of people from the Regional Command South of the Kazakh Ground Forces.

Thirty people from each of the two air groups will also take part in the exercise.