Uzbekistan is conducting major military exercises near its borders with Tajikistan and Afghanistan, said the head of the Uzbek Defense Ministry\'s press service, Lieutenant Colonel Kamil Djabarov. The exercises reportedly involve several thousand soldiers, including regular army units, Interior Ministry troops, and border guards. The mountainous location was selected because it was the site of attempts by Muslim militants to penetrate into Uzbek territory in 2001, according to Djabarov. He said that the exercises are intended to provide practice in coordinating the command of the various security agencies. The special services of the Defense and Interior ministries have been assigned to carry out raids in the mountains in conditions of extreme heat and without external support. The exercises are also intended to generate updates of the maps of the mountains, since the old maps predate the collapse of the USSR. (Deutsche Welle)