AMMAN, Jordan — Only Jordan and the United States are to take part in this year's Eager Lion military exercise, commanders said on Sunday, compared with the 18 nations which participated last year.

A total of 6,000 troops will undertake 10 days of maneuvers in the kingdom — 3,000 from each country and including special forces as well as air, ground and naval forces, Brig. Gen. Ralph Groover said.

Jordan's Brig. Gen. Fahd al-Damen said nothing should be read into the absence of other participating countries this year.

"This exercise was from the outset a bilateral event but in recent years we organised multilateral maneuvers at the request of other countries," he told a news conference.

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