Peace Support Operations Training Brings International Audience to Mongolia

More than 500 military personnel from throughout Asia-Pacific and beyond have gathered in Mongolia for Khaan Quest, a multinational training exercise designed to increase peace support operations core competencies.

Approximately 250 members of the Mongolian Armed Forces, 150 members of the U.S. military, and 150 international military representatives are taking part in the exercise, which includes a field training event, a humanitarian civic assistance project, medical readiness training and a peace keeping operations seminar.

Khaan Quest is hosted by the Mongolian Armed Forces and sponsored by U.S. Pacific Command.

While the exercise officially kicked off with a ceremony Aug. 15, exercise-related events have been going on since late July, when a group of U.S. and Mongolian soldiers continued improvements to a school dormitory as part of a project that began last year during Khaan Quest.

More than 30 officers from nine countries took part in a United Nations Staff Officers Course Aug. 10-12.

The purpose of Khaan Quest, which runs through Aug. 26, is to increase interoperability and planning expertise among participating nations and to further develop the Mongolian Armed Forces’ training center at the Five Hills Training Area.

Khaan Quest is one of a number of exercises in the Asia-Pacific region that support USPACOM’s objective of contributing to bilateral and multilateral efforts to build partner capacity and capability, as well as Global Peace Operations Initiative goals, which includes the training of 75,000 military peace support operations troops worldwide through 2010.

Keep up with Khaan Quest on the exercise website.