Uzbek defense minister will arrive in Tajikistan to observe Tajik-Uzbek joint anti-terror military exercise

Recall, the complete exercise involves one company of Uzbek Special Forces and three companies of Tajik Special Forces, along with armored vehicles, artillery and aviation.  

The exercise was lance don March 11 and is closing tomorrow with a final phase at the Fakhrobod training ground featuring live-fire missions with combat helicopters.

Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Mirzo is in overall command of the ongoing joint war game, the purpose of which is to rehearse coordination and interaction in combat missions on destroying terrorist groups at the junction of the borders of the two countries.

While in Tajikistan, Uzbek defense minister will also meet with his Tajik counterpart to discuss the state and prospects of further expansion of military cooperation between the two countries, an official source at a MoD told Asia-Plus in an interview.  

Major-General Bakhodir Kurbanov is an Uzbek military leader who is the current Minister of Defense of Uzbekistan.  After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kurbanov enrolled in the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, of which he graduated from in 1994.  In December 2013, Kurbanov was appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan.  In the 5 years that followed, he served in various positions in the internal services and military units of the armed forces, such as Commander of the Tashkent Military District.  On February 11, 2019, Kurbanov was appointed as Minister of Defense, replacing Lieutenant-General Abdusalom Azizov, who was transferred to the National Security Service.