Russian Troops and Uzbekistan stated joint military drills on August 2 near the Afghan border, amid fears in both countries that a worsening security situation in Afghanistan could spill over into Central Asia. Russia said 1,500 Russian and Uzbek troops would take part in the five-day exercises that began at the Termez military site in Uzbekistan. In a sign of how serious Moscow is taking the potential threat from Afghanistan, it said it would send a much bigger military contingent to Tajikistan for separate trilateral exercises due to begin there later this week.

Those separate drills are expected to take place on August 5-10 and involve Russian, Tajik and Uzbek forces. Uzbekistan said on Monday its unit had arrived in Tajikistan. Security has rapidly deteriorated in Afghanistan as the United States withdraws troops. Moscow fears that could destabilize its southern defensive flank and push refugees into its Central Asian backyard.

Tajikistan's defence ministry said in its statement that the drills would involve more than 300 armored vehicles, 25 combat and transport helicopters and an undisclosed number of fighter and bomber jets as well as artillery. "The aim of the drills is to effectively test the combat ability of military units in the event of the situation being destabilized on the state border," it said.

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