NEW DELHI, 7 September 2003 — US and Indian special forces are holding joint exercises on high-altitude operations in Ladakh, a Himalayan region on the sensitive frontiers with Pakistan and China, officials said yesterday.
The two-week maneuvers are focused on training for high-altitude operations, including “mountain safety, acclimitisation and medical aspects,” a US Embassy official said.
Indian Defense Ministry officials have given few details about the joint maneuvers that began Friday in Ladakh, which is administratively part of Kashmir but has been relatively untouched by the province’s 14-year insurgency against Indian rule.
Defense Minister George Fernandes on Friday said there was “no political reason” behind the exercises.
“In the past, we have held such exercises with some Asian countries. We have also done it with the US. Such exercises are carried out so that countries get to know the areas of strength and weakeness of its military,” Fernandes said.
Officials declined to say how many US and Indian personnel were involved in the operation.
The maneuvers are the third phase of the joint Indian-US training sessions in extreme weather, codenamed Balance Iroquois.
Previous exercises were carried out in May 2002 near the northern Indian city of Agra where temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) and in October that year in frigid Alaska.
The Agra exercises were the first between India and the United States in 39 years.
Relations between the countries were strained during the Cold War, when India tilted toward the Soviet Union. Washington imposed military sanctions on India and Pakistan after the archrivals carried out nuclear tests within days of each other in May 1998.
The sanctions were lifted on the two countries after they joined the US-led “coalition against terrorism” following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
India Unlikely to Send
Troops to Iraq
Domestic political considerations are likely to dissuade India’s Hindu nationalist-led coalition government from sending troops to Iraq even if a new UN Security Council resolution is passed, The Hindu daily said yesterday.
Quoting unnamed sources in the government, the newspaper said the ruling BJP party’s top leaders believed it would be politically disastrous if any Indian soldier died in Iraq.
National elections are due in India by October 2004.
Although India had rejected on July 14 a US request for troops to Iraq, the Cabinet said their deployment could take place if there were an explicit mandate from the UN.
India’s stand mirrors that of France, Russia and Germany which have said they will not participate in an Iraq stabilization mission unless it were authorized by the UN Security Council in a new resolution.
The United States has recently said it would seek a mandate for a US-led multinational force in Iraq and attempt to encourage more countries to provide troops and assistance.
