KAZAKHSTAN AND NATO’S PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE PROGRAM

KAZAKHSTAN AND NATO’S PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE PROGRAM Kazakhstan has been engaged in bilateral relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1992, when the country joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) established by the alliance in December 1991 as a forum to discuss and coordinate security issues with its new partners. Kazakhstan’s practical security cooperation with NATO officially started in May 1994, when it signed a framework document of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program launched in January 1994 to allow developing interaction between NATO and non-member states in the Euro-Atlantic area. The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), which replaced the NACC in 1997, is a main platform for the NATOKazakhstan security dialogue providing the overall political framework for cooperation within the PfP program, while at the regional and national levels cooperation is maintained, respectively, via the NATO Liaison Office in Central Asia based in Tashkent and one of the embassies of the NATO member states serving as a contact point.

According to James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Kazakhstan is the alliance’s most active partner in the region. A major mechanism for implementing mutual cooperation is the individual partnership action plan (IPAP), which has been jointly developed and agreed on a twoyear basis starting in 2006. Through the IPAP, the alliance is able to tailor its assistance to Kazakhstan’s specific interests and priority needs focusing on activities that contribute best to the improvement and strengthening of the country’s defense and security sector. Since 1995, as part of the PfP, Kazakhstan has participated in a number of the program activities, including defense reform, military-to-military cooperation, civil-military relations, civil emergency planning and disaster response, education, training, and scientific cooperation.

Under the defense and security sector reform, NATO provided considerable expertise that Kazakhstan has used to lay the conceptual framework for the institutional reform process within its Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces, including through the participation in the Partnership Action Plan on Defense Institution Building initiative that aids in setting effective judicial oversight and appropriate command arrangements for relevant institutions. Since 2002, Kazakhstan has participated in the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) to attain and improve interoperability between its armed forces and military units of the NATO member states, with a current emphasis on the Air-Mobile Forces. In this regard, the important and advanced direction of cooperation is ongoing joint work with NATO on further developing Kazakhstan’s peacekeeping potential, as Astana regards conducting basic peacekeeping and humanitarian operations within a multinational framework as a tool that would help the country’s military and security forces to gain practical experience of contemporary warfare under real-life conditions.

The early example of this interaction was the participation of Kazakhstan’s national peacekeepers as part of the Central Asian Battalion in a series of U.S. and NATO sponsored annual military exercises conducted under the PfP program from 1997 to 2000. In January 2000, President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued an edict creating a separate Kazakh Peacekeeping Battalion (Kazbat) composed of contracted military servicemen. The Ministry of Defense considered a possibility of deploying the Kazakh peacekeepers in Afghanistan in 2002, but no political decision was eventually made, mainly due to strong domestic opposition. It is worth noting that Kazakhstan still assisted NATO with its operation in Afghanistan by providing over-flight rights and allowing the use of its territory for the transit of troops and supplies. The Kazbat’s first peacekeeping experience was the deployment in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led multinational stabilization force from 2003 to 2008. Nine peacekeeping contingents totaling 290 military engineers and medical personnel were rotated over five years, contributing to the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.

In the following years, Kazakhstan continued to develop its national peacekeeping potential, mainly in the framework of PARP, through participation in military exercises and experience sharing in the planning, implementation and maintenance of peacekeeping operations. Starting in 2003, Kazakhstan partnered with the United Kingdom, the United States and other interested countries in conducting Steppe Eagle, an annual joint training exercise aimed to strengthen peacekeeping and peace support capabilities. In October 2007, the 38th Separate Air Assault Brigade was renamed the Kazakh Peacekeeping Brigade (Kazbrig), and the Kazbat became part of the Kazbrig. Currently, the Kazbrig is part of Kazakhstan’s Airmobile Forces and consists of three battalions. The Kazbat-1 is designated to participate in UN peacekeeping missions, while the Kazbat-2 is intended to be used in peacekeeping operations under the aegis of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the Kazbat-3 is considered the Kazbrig’s backup unit. The Kazbat-1, which has 550 servicemen, passed the NATO certification that confirmed the battalion’s ability to operate in a multinational peacekeeping environment under a UN Security Council mandate, including in NATO-led peace support operations.

In July 2008, under the Kazakhstan-NATO cooperation plan, the first PfP training center in Central Asia called the Kazakhstan Center (KAZCENT) was opened in the Military Institute of Ground Forces in Almaty, and was accredited by NATO as a Partnership Training and Education Center in December 2010. The center’s main objective is to train the relevant military personnel, including from the NATO member and partner states, designated to participate in peacekeeping operations. Its curriculum includes courses on English military terminology in multinational operations, NATO administrative and staff procedures, military-civilian interaction, as well as a course on the history, economy, and culture of Central Asia and Afghanistan.

One of the cooperative areas of the NATO-Kazakhstan relations is the fight against international terrorism. As part of the Partnership Action Plan on Terrorism, Kazakhstan shares relevant information and analysis with NATO, enhances its national counter-terrorist capabilities, improves interagency cooperation and strengthens border security. Civil emergency planning is another key area of PfP cooperation between Kazakhstan and NATO, and the national emergency response and disaster management system has benefitted from participation in advanced training activities organized by the alliance’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center. In September 2009, the center partnered with Kazakhstan’s Ministry for Emergency Situations to conduct the disaster response field exercise codenamed Zhetysu-2009 in the Almaty region. The civilian and military teams from more than 20 countries took part in the exercise designed to enhance cooperation in emergency situations by practicing disaster response mechanisms and capabilities.

The parties are also involved in scientific collaboration through the NATO’s Science for Peace and Security program, under which Kazakhstan has received grant awards for over 20 cooperative research projects. Study topics include radiological risks in Central Asia, integrated water resources management, security of cyber networks, and new technologies for seismic resistant construction. NATO also pays close attention to increasing public awareness of the alliance and benefits of its partnership with Kazakhstan. In particular, in 2007, NATO assisted the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Almaty in establishing the Resource and Information Center on NATO, which organizes regular NATO-themed events. In addition, the NATO Depository Library was opened at the Kazakh National Academic Library in Astana in 2008, where NATO sends multimedia materials and publications for use by students, researchers and practitioners. It is noteworthy that in June 2009 the third EAPC Security Forum took place in Astana focusing on the situation in Afghanistan, regional security perspectives in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as energy issues.

In conclusion, it is important to note that cooperation under NATO’s PfP program helps Kazakhstan to address security threats posed by terrorism, religious extremism, ethnic conflicts, organized crime, drug trafficking, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other challenges. Kazakhstan does not pursue full membership in the alliance, but the institutionalized interaction with NATO is essential for Kazakhstan as it not only contributes to the strengthening of its military forces but also increases regional stability, enhances security cooperation in Central Asia, and mitigates external pressure from the neighboring major powers.

Written by Dauren Aben, Eurasian Research Institute, Kazakhstan Politics, Foreign Affairs and Security      During his official visit to Sochi, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan exchanged opinions with President of Russia Vladimir Putin on regional and international issues, focusing on the joint fight against terrorism and the Syrian peace settlement. The parties also discussed prospects of boosting bilateral trade and strengthening cooperation in the energy sector.

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