The commander of Kuwaiti troops in Egypt’s Bright Star drills has said that the biannual war games underway in Alexandria "have nothing to do with international events," referring to the US-led war on Afghanistan.
"There is no link whatsoever between what is happening on the international scene and Bright Star, and the proof is that the troops taking part in Bright Star started to arrive as early as September 8," three days before the terror attacks in the US, Colonel Ahmed Al Munaifi was quoted as saying by the official Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA).
Munaifi met earlier with Egyptian and US commanders to discuss the five stages of the exercises, he said.
The top officer told KUNA that the Kuwaiti troops group 300 soldiers, commandos, Gazelle helicopters, chemical defense squads, and missile, administration, signal, transportation and medical units.
Troops from Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Spain, the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Greece are taking part in the war games.
Since its inception in 1981, Bright Star's biannual exercises have brought together elite forces from Egypt and several NATO countries in what is termed "the most important simulated war on desert terrain."
Bright Star was interrupted in 1991 when the real thing took place on the borders of Kuwait and Iraq during the second Gulf War – Albawaba.com
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