Free Republic

When he was 19 Garbold Azzaya left his grandparents and their cattle and sheep in the foothills of Bulgan in northern Mongolia and joined the army. Two years later, when he was a sergeant in the 150th Peacekeeping Battalion, he flew from a sub-zero Ulaanbaatar to the 40C (105F) heat of al-Hillah, near the ruins of Babylon, to man the guard towers of Camp Charlie, the headquarters of the multinational division in Iraq. Sixteen days after he arrived Sergeant Azzaya, armed with an AK47 six years older than he was, saw a blue car too close to the wall at...

Mongolian government officials are preparing to send letters to Beijing and Moscow to eliminate fears there that a summer exercise the country is planning in the region with the United States will be used for combat training, Ulaanbaatar’s highest-ranking uniformed official told Inside the Pentagon last week. In August, Mongolia will host the multinational event “Khaan Quest 2006,” which Mongolian and U.S. officials say will focus on peacekeeping and disaster relief operations. Forces from six to eight countries are expected to participate in the field portion of the drill, including the two principal planners, Thailand and Bangladesh, according to U.S....

DESCENDANTS of Genghis Khan, the man who conquered half the world in the 13th century, rolled out the red carpet yesterday for the most powerful man of the 21st century. George Bush stood to attention in the biting cold before an honour guard of Mongolian soldiers in blue and red uniforms and with sabres at the ready as the United States national anthem played to welcome the first serving American President to set foot in Ulan Bator. Mr Bush chose to wrap up a four-nation Asian trip in this young democracy, where fewer than three million people, mostly nomads, live...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Mongolia united as U.S. 'strategic partner'By David R. SandsTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished July 16, 2004 Mongolia considers the United States a "strategic partner" in the war on terrorism and will not pull out of the U.S.-led security operation in Iraq, Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi said in an interview yesterday.     The president said Mongolia's cliffhanger June 27 elections, which produced an almost evenly divided parliament, would not affect the country's deployment of about 130 troops to Iraq, the third rotation of Mongolian forces in the country since the war concluded last year.     "So far in our country, there is...