October 5, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 27, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: Pakistan and the United States will begin joint military exercises from Oct 15, defence sources told Dawn on Friday.

The two-week exercises, in the region of Jhelum and Kharian, would mark the resumption of military collaboration between the two countries after a gap of almost half a decade.

A senior official, involved in the event preparations, said around 150 to 200 personnel from each side would participate in the exercises.

Underlining the operational significance of the joint Pakistan-US ‘company-level’ exercises, he said, they would follow the operational cycle of military coordination, planning, execution and de-briefing.

When contacted, a US embassy’s spokesman said he had heard some talk of the joint exercises, but had no firm dates or details.

A Pakistani military official said the exercises were important as they signified the resumption of combined training between Pakistan and the United States.

Defence experts said the objective of the exercises was to know the professional standards and learn from each other and to see how well they had been able to incorporate the modern warfare technology.

US army personnel, along with their paraphernalia, would arrive in their special aircraft shortly before the scheduled date of the exercises, the sources said.

Pakistan-US joint exercises will take place five months after India-US wargames in Agra.

Pakistan and the US had initially planned tri-services exercises, involving army, air force and navy, for July and August this year, but owing to some reasons they could not materialize.

In the 90s, Pakistan conducted two joint exercises with the US army. One was held in 1995 and the other, a major one, in 1997.