War At The Top Of The World

GYARI, PAKISTAN - JUNE 17: Pakistani Army soldiers cheer on one of their colleagues during a mountain training exercise near a battalion headquarters of the Pakistani Army at 13,800 feet June 17, 2005 in Gyari, Pakistan. Since 1982-84, the Pakistani Army has been facing off with the Indian Army in a 250-square-mile area of the Himalayan Mountains. Word of an Indian Army incursion first reached the Pakistani military from foreign mountaineers in 1982 when Indian Army troops were seen in the previously unoccupied Siachen Glacier area. Since Partition in 1947, the Siachen Glacier has been considered to be Pakistani territory. The two armies have been fighting costly artillery battles along Himalayan mountain peaks reaching up to 21,000 feet. Since November 2003, there has been a negotiated cease-fire in place and talks continue of a possible pull back from the disputed border area. The two armies suffer a greater number of casualties from frostbite, pulmonary and cerebral edema and high altitude sickness than they do from shelling or bullets. Pakistan keeps an estimated 3000 soldiers in the mountainous area at any one time. India spends an estimated $1 million USD per day to maintain its troops. Figures for Pakistan are similar for strength and outlays. The Siachen Glacier is part of the Karakoram mountain range between Pakistan, China and India. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)