Islamabad: For the first time in five years, the US and Pakistani Armies would hold fortnight-long military exercises from October 15.

The exercises, which would be held in the Jhelum and Kharian region in Punjab province, would involve around 150 to 200 personnel from each side, senior officials said.

Terming the exercises as "significant", the officials said they signified the resumption of combined training between the United States and Pakistan.

The "company-level" exercises would follow the operational cycle of military co- ordination, planning, execution and de-briefing, the officials were quoted as saying by local daily 'Dawn'.

The objective of the exercises was to understand the professional standards and learn from one another and to see how well they had been able to incorporate the modern warfare technology, the paper quoted Defence experts as saying.

US Army personnel, along with their equipment, would arrive in their special aircraft shortly before the scheduled date of the exercises.

Pakistan and the US had initially planned tri-services exercises, involving Army, Air Force and Navy, for July and August this year, but they did not materialise.

The US has resumed military ties with Pakistan after Islamabad agreed to reverse its policy against Taleban in the aftermath of last year's September 11 attacks and joined the international coalition against terrorism.

Pakistan last conducted two joint exercises with the US Army in 1995 and in 1997.

PTI