allesennogwat
05-08-2007, 11:56 AM
AFP-Tuesday May 8
Thailand and the United States launched their annual war games Tuesday despite last year's coup that prompted Washington to slash millions of dollars in military aid.
The "Cobra Gold" live-fire exercises, the largest US war games in Asia, are set to run through May 18 with a focus on multinational peacekeeping operations, Thai and US officials said.
"For a quarter century, Cobra Gold has been the most visible symbol of US and Thai military cooperation," US deputy ambassador Alexander Arvizu said at the opening ceremony in Chonburi, east of Bangkok.
"Over recent years, Cobra Gold has evolved from being a strictly bilateral joint exercise to a multilateral event designed to enhance our ability to respond to peace enforcement and peacekeeping responsibilities under the United Nations."
No mention was made of last year's coup, after which the United States suspended 24 million dollars in military aid to Thailand.
But Washington has left other joint programmes untouched, notably in the field of counter-terrorism, in which the kingdom has emerged as a low-key yet valued partner.
Some 3,090 personnel from Thailand are taking part in the war games along with 2,000 US forces.
Japan is also sending 47 troops, along with 70 from Singapore and 27 from Indonesia. Forces from those three nations will only participate in computer simulations.
In earlier years some 20,000 personnel participated in the exercise, but the scale has gone down considerably in recent years due to US military obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The war games come amid an intensifying insurgency in Thailand's Muslim-majority south.
Last month Bangkok rejected a US offer to help train Thai military forces to quell the insurgency, which that has left more than 2,100 dead over the last three years.
Thailand and the United States launched their annual war games Tuesday despite last year's coup that prompted Washington to slash millions of dollars in military aid.
The "Cobra Gold" live-fire exercises, the largest US war games in Asia, are set to run through May 18 with a focus on multinational peacekeeping operations, Thai and US officials said.
"For a quarter century, Cobra Gold has been the most visible symbol of US and Thai military cooperation," US deputy ambassador Alexander Arvizu said at the opening ceremony in Chonburi, east of Bangkok.
"Over recent years, Cobra Gold has evolved from being a strictly bilateral joint exercise to a multilateral event designed to enhance our ability to respond to peace enforcement and peacekeeping responsibilities under the United Nations."
No mention was made of last year's coup, after which the United States suspended 24 million dollars in military aid to Thailand.
But Washington has left other joint programmes untouched, notably in the field of counter-terrorism, in which the kingdom has emerged as a low-key yet valued partner.
Some 3,090 personnel from Thailand are taking part in the war games along with 2,000 US forces.
Japan is also sending 47 troops, along with 70 from Singapore and 27 from Indonesia. Forces from those three nations will only participate in computer simulations.
In earlier years some 20,000 personnel participated in the exercise, but the scale has gone down considerably in recent years due to US military obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The war games come amid an intensifying insurgency in Thailand's Muslim-majority south.
Last month Bangkok rejected a US offer to help train Thai military forces to quell the insurgency, which that has left more than 2,100 dead over the last three years.