Uzbek President underlined that importance of reforming and increasing combat readiness of the Armed Forces in current stage is due to rapidly changing conditions in the world and growing tension in Middle East and Persian Gulf region, as well as difficult situation in the region due to growth of confrontation, various threats and challenges to security.

He said that the Central Asian region, due to its geopolitical and geostrategic importance, huge mineral and raw resources, becomes object of close attention in recent years and intersection of strategic interests of large states, characterizes continuation of tension and confrontation in Afghanistan, where war continues for 30 years.

President Islam Karimov said the upcoming withdrawal of US and International Security Assistance Force troops from Afghanistan in 2014 could lead to expansion of terrorism and extremism activities, growth of tension and contradiction in this vast region, as well as creation of a permanent source of instability here.

The deteriorating socio-economic situation in individual countries of the region is a serious challenge to regional stability and security, and it creates favorable conditions for the growth of social discontent and recruitment of new members into the ranks of extremist forces, he added.

President noted that the conditions and the nature of modern military operations radically changed, and they now differ with their suddenness, rapidity and transiency, as well as use of small mobile units.

Analysis of military operations in modern military conflicts and local wars suggests that radically new combat systems for special purposes and non-contact forms and methods of warfare with the use of advanced information technologies and modern high-precision weapons are being used more and more, Islam Karimov said.

"Overall, the evaluation of socio-political, socio-economic, political and military situation in Central Asia and the world shows increasing threats to peace, stability and sustainable development in the region," Karimov said.

All these require implementation of advanced systemic measures to further improvement and enhancement of the effectiveness of the entire system of defense and national security, continuation of the comprehensive work on strengthening of the capacity and readiness of the Armed Forces, he said.

He noted that under the present conditions, the Ministry of Defense, the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, the commander of the military districts and branches of troops, the brigade commanders, the entire officers corps should consider implementation of priorities and guidelines of the Directive of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, adopted in connection with the 20th anniversary of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, as their most important task.

“Special attention should be paid to further accumulating experience, improving and deepening knowledge on basic principles and techniques of modern combat operations during a potential theater of operations in our region, training ability to quickly navigate and adopting decisions under extreme and difficult conditions among troops, increasing their knowledge on basics of use of modern and high-precision weapons and other features of modern combat operations,” Karimov said.

Islam Karimov said: "The Armed Forces Command and the military districts should pay serious attention to work on improving efficiency of planning, organizing and conducting command post and tactical exercises, which should be a school for testing different models of combat operations in the modern theater."

He noted that our focus must remain on the problems of re-equipment of units with modern weapons and equipment, and their support means, creating powerful repair facilities, which are necessary to maintain combat readiness and modernization of existing weapons and military equipment.

A system of training, retraining and advanced training of commanders and sergeant staff requires radical improvement. New quality of military education and training is essential to improve the combat readiness of the Armed Forces, said Islam Karimov.

"We need to continue work on further development of commanding and leadership skills, development of modern forms, methods and techniques of organizing combat training, skillful use of entrusted modern arms and military equipment, as well as personnel among sergeants, and strengthen the role of sergeants in improving the moral and ethical climate discipline in the primary units. We should create conditions for competition, material and moral incentives for this", - said Islam Karimov.

"The most important task to increase mobility, combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces is to ensure a high level of combat readiness of combat platoons. This task requires a review of policy, statutory, planning and guidance documents and regulations, designed to identify the growing role and importance of the platoons in the changing tactics of combat operations and peculiarities of the theater of war,"- the President added.

He said that requirements for platoon commanders and their professional training also should grow. Today, the platoon commanders must be well-trained and highly professional officers, and be able to adopt non-standard solutions in extreme conditions, skillfully manage units in combat, and in their daily activities.

The focus must remain on timely and full implementation of the adopted state programmes, which are aimed at providing servicemen with habitations, improving their social and living conditions, he stressed.

"The question on social security should be considered as important issue as in modern conditions only the social security of servicemen, as well as well-trained, strong, fully-equipped armed forces are capable to ensure security of our country", Islam Karimov said.