DUSHANBE, March 12, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan is expected to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) joint anti-terror drill, dubbed Peace Mission 2012, in June this year, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) press center reports.
Staff negotiations of representatives from member nations of the SCO on conducting Peace Mission 2012 took place at the Sughd military garrison, northern Tajikistan on March 4-8.
Five SCO member nations (Tajikistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia) will take part in Peace Mission 2012 that will be conducted in the Tajik northern Sughd province. Uzbekistan will not participate in the exercise.
The purpose of the exercise that will be held in three stages is to rehearse coordination and interaction in combat missions in mountain areas, the source said.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
The SCO is primarily centered on its member nations’ Central Asian security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. However evidence is growing that its activities in the area of social development of its member states is increasing fast.
Over the past few years, the organization”s activities have expanded to include increased military cooperation, intelligence sharing, and counterterrorism.
There have been a number of SCO joint military exercises. The first of these was held in 2003, with the first phase taking place in Kazakhstan and the second in China. Since then China and Russia have teamed up for large-scale war games in 2005 (Peace Mission 2005), 2007 and 2009, under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. At the joint military exercises in 2007 (known as “Peace Mission 2007”) which took place in Chelyabinsk Russia, near the Ural Mountains and close to Central Asia, as was agreed upon in April 2006 at a meeting of SCO Defence Ministers, more than 4,000 Chinese soldiers participated. Peace Mission 2010, conducted September 9-25 at Kazakhstan”s Matybulak training area, reportedly involved more 5,000 personnel from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Peace Mission-2011 was reportedly conducted in Russia’s Eastern Military District.
