DUSHANBE, October 1, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe sponsored seven officers from Tajikistan’s Border Guards, Ministry of Defense and the National Guard to participate in an explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) information exchange August 16-20, according to press release issued by the U.S. Embassy.

Officers from Kyrgyzstan also participated.

“This exchange is a portion of Third Army’s overall shaping strategy to improve relationships between the U.S., Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as helping them to improve their overall self-defense capability,” said LTC Frank Davis, Third Army EOD officer.

Third Army has held three EOD information exchanges with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan over the past year. This exchange is the second multilateral event and is promoting cooperation among the nations and promoting peace within the region.

During the visit, participants toured the Joint-Service All-Ranks Explosive Ordnance Disposal Course and were introduced to equipment U.S. EOD teams are using in theater. In addition, they received briefings on the Afghan EOD School and attended Technical Seminars.

Tajikistan’s Col. Jaffarov, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Defense Chief of Engineering Col. Ziyabek Kamchybekov, and Representative from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan Firuza Nasimova were presented with certificates on the last day of the exchange, inducting them into the Honorary EOD Society of Diffusers.

The U.S. Government sponsors more than 60 security cooperation events per year that include military to military information exchanges, humanitarian assistance, infrastructure and exercises. U.S. training for security forces includes training on human rights issues and the role of security forces in democratic societies.