BACKGROUND: During his meetings with Lord Robertson, President Nazarbayev made a number of suggestions concerning new initiatives with NATO, which may include greater military technical cooperation, exercises, training and offering Kazakh humanitarian aid to Iraq and constructing warehouses within Kazakhstan for humanitarian supplies for both Afghanistan and Iraq. Kazakhstan has been an active member of NATOs Partnership for Peace (PfP) since joining in 1994, and has sought to capitalize on its closer transatlantic links. In the aftermath of 9/11, as U.S. and western military forces were deployed to Central Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Astana recognized the importance of bilateral military cooperation between its neighbors and the coalition but only slowly responded to the changing security dynamics within the region. Only last month did Kazakhstan make the Shymkent airport in its southern military district available to the Danish air force involved in operations in Afghanistan; initially for emergency landing use only. Such practical support for OEF could well be a prelude to more active measures in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Kazakhstan has increasingly looked to the West to assist in the important task of its military reform, and this has meant fostering closer ties with NATO and its member states on a bilateral basis. Kazakh military planners regard the U.S. military as a significant factor in vital aspects of reforming the Kazakh armed forces. At a theoretical level, this has involved U.S. help in writing the Kazakh military doctrine and closely examining its military structures. Practical help from Washington is also being stepped up, whilst Kazakhstan appears to welcome such measures. Indeed, the U.S. is keen to promote the reform of the Kazakh military and has agreed a five-year cooperation plan between the respective defense ministries. That plan reportedly emphasizes providing Kazakh army units with modern military equipment and ensuring interoperability with other NATO subdivisions. Furthermore, the US will help in the creation of a professional army in Kazakhstan, the development of military infrastructure in the Caspian region, including antiterrorist subdivisions and assistance in developing the Kazakh Navy. Huey II helicopters will be supplied through the ‘Foreign Military Financing’ (FMF) program to enhance air defense and the possibility of supplying US C-130 military transport aircraft. Mobile vehicles and communications equipment is currently being discussed between Washington and Astana. The U.S. military will also provide training for the Kazakh peacekeeping battalion KAZBAT, as well as further increasing the number of Kazakh servicemen being receiving military training in the US. The number of Kazakh servicemen trained in the U.S. remains fairly small, but is nonetheless significant and growing; in 2001 17 Kazakhs were trained there and this year that number will reach 39. Whilst Kazakhstan has looked to the U.S. in its quest for international assistance for its military reform, it has also recently strengthened its bilateral ties with France. After a meeting between the defense ministers in March 2003, French Defense Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie held discussions with President Nazarbayev in July 2003. The French offered closer military cooperation, suggested joint military training exercises and most significantly proposed sharing France’s experience of professionalizing its armed forces with Kazakhstan, in order to further this key reform, not least since by 2007 Kazakhstan plans to have 50% contract servicemen in its army.

IMPLICATIONS: NATOs attempts to deepen its military and security ties with Kazakhstan, as well other states within Central Asia, has met with a positive response in Astana. Further meetings are scheduled when Lord Robertson next visits the region in September. Given the recent history of the Kazakh government looking to the west to enhance its security and stimulate military reform, it is likely that Kazakhstan will move closer to NATO within its PfP cooperation programs. Specific tasks linked to improving the condition and combat readiness of the armed forces, such as professionalizing military service, will result in yet more involvement of Western countries keen to strengthen Kazakh security. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan as a keen participant in the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), will continue to conduct its relations with the West in a cautious methodical manner, aware of its traditionally strong ties with Russia, and recognizing the concerns of neighboring China. Astana cannot afford to alienate either state. The economic importance of the Caspian Sea, and the historical legacy of an absence of military infrastructure there during the Soviet period, resulted in prioritizing the development of effective defense capabilities in Kazakhstan’s Western Military District. It is hardly surprising, in this context, that close attention was paid to this strategically vital area by holding military exercises in April 2003, when the armed forces held Batys 2003 (West 2003), the largest scale Caspian exercises in the Republic’s history. Around 5,000 troops participated, testing their speed and effectiveness in deployment from the Kazakh-Chinese border to the Caspian Sea region; covering a distance of more than 2,500 km and involving 40 troop trains.

CONCLUSIONS: As NATO conducts its defense diplomacy with the Central Asian Republics, it finds in Kazakhstan an invaluable partner keen to look towards the West for security assistance and closer cooperation. Areas of its military reform appear open to intensified western assistance and these include the supply of modern weapons and equipment. As Kazakhstan observes the difficulty of professionalizing the Russian army, it may yet turn to the experience of western militaries. Astana’s pursuit of a multilayered foreign policy has tangibly emerged within the military and defense establishment. Russia, with its own political reservations, has voiced opposition to the creation of a Kazakh Navy to strengthen its Caspian security. This is likely to be furthered, however, through U.S. military assistance and the supply of hardware. Negotiations between NATO and Kazakhstan are poised to change yet again the evolving security dynamics of Central Asia, which if done in a spirit of cooperation and abandoning the ‘zero-sum game’ may prove in the long term that close links with the Alliance and strong bilateral ties with Western states are aimed at achieving that which Moscow has long sought: regional stability and enhanced security in this vital geostrategic region.

AUTHORS’ BIO: Roger N. McDermott is an honorary senior research associate, department of politics and international relations, university of Kent at Canterbury (UK). He is also the editor (together with Anne C. Aldis) of the forthcoming Russian Military Reform 1992-2002, London/Portland: Frank Cass, 2003.