An annual peacekeeping drill that brings American and other multinational troops close to China and Russia wraps up Friday near Mongolia’s capital. Khaan Quest kicked off June 20 as part of the United Nations Global Peace Operations Initiative, a program that provides pre-deployment training to nations preparing to support U.N. peacekeeping missions. “What began as a bilateral training event between the Mongolian Armed Forces and U.S. Marine Forces Pacific has grown into the premier peacekeeping exercise in the Pacific region,” U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Richard Buangan said at the drill’s opening ceremony, according to remarks posted on the U.S. Embassy’s website. The exercise takes place at the Five Hills Training Area near Ulaanbaatar, about 200 miles south of Mongolia’s border with Russia and less than 200 miles north of the border with China. Mongolia has close ties to its much larger neighbors, which are its primary sources of energy and many other products. Mongolia abstained on a U.N. General Assembly vote condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, the landlocked democracy of 3.4 million people has expanded ties to other nations in the region such as Japan and South Korea, which also sent troops to Khaan Quest. Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the Philippines are also participating. The last significant U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Pacific, in East Timor, ended in 2012. However, Pacific nations contribute peacekeepers to missions in Africa and the Middle East. The objective of the Khaan Quest, hosted by U.S. Army Pacific and the Mongolian military, is to develop a strategic partnership between the two countries, according to Army Sgt. Austin Riel, a spokesman for the Hawaii-based 8th Theater Sustainment Command. The Mongolians started the drill for their own troops in 2003, but it has been a multinational exercise for 20 years, he said by phone Monday from Mongolia. There are 149 American active duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers training in Mongolia as part of a multinational contingent of 1,300 troops, Army Lt. Col. Andrea Matthiew, the exercise director, told Stars and Stripes during the phone call. “It’s not preparing troops for a particular peacekeeping mission, but it’s training units to U.N. standards for peacekeeping deployments,” Matthiew, the commander of the Hawaii-based 125th Finance Battalion, said of Khaan Quest. U.S. troops in Mongolia include Guard troops from Idaho, Nevada and Virginia, military police from Hawaii and Colorado, and medical personnel from Hawaii, according to the finance battalion’s senior enlisted leader, Command Sgt. Maj. Natasha Hunt, also on the phone from Mongolia. During Khaan Quest troops did a brigade-level command post exercise, then battalion-level counter drone and cordon-and-search training. At company level, they did counter roadside bomb and medical training, Matthiew said. The training included a multinational company with troops from different nations, with American personnel training Mongolians and Mongolians training Americans, she said. The U.S. soldiers are getting to know Mongolia, tasting local food and checking out horse riding, archery and falconry, Matthiew added. 

BY SETH ROBSON 
Seth Robson is a Tokyo-based reporter who has been with Stars and Stripes since 2003. He has been stationed in Japan, South Korea and Germany, with frequent assignments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Australia and the Philippines. 

Published Date:2026-07-01