US embassy cable - 05ALMATY1393

S E C R E T  ALMATY 001393 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE), EUR/RPM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2025 
TAGS: KZ, MARR, MOPS, PREL, POLITICAL 
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: DEPUTY EUCOM COMMANDER'S MEETING WITH 
DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENSE 
 
Classified By: Ambassador John Ordway, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
1. (U) Summary: On April 2, Deputy Commander U.S. European 
Command (EUCOM) General Charles Wald met with Deputy Minister 
of Defense General-Major Bulat Sembinov in Astana. Sembinov's 
staff presented three briefings on transformation of 
Kazakhstani Armed Forces and Caspian security, Kazakhstani 
operations in Iraq, and Kazakhstan-NATO operations. Sembinov 
reiterated Kazakhstan's support for operations in Iraq. End 
summary. 
 
2. (U) Introduction. Deputy Defense Minister Sembinov 
welcomed General Wald and began with an overview of 
Kazakhstan's economic development, which has established it 
as a leader in the region. An indicator of this development 
is the growth in per capita income, which 20 years ago was 
$700 and is now $2700. Projected per capita income for 2005 
is expected to reach $3000. The President announced a program 
beginning this year and continuing to 2008 to develop the 
social component of the state; specifically improving the 
public health sector, improving housing, and across-the-board 
wage increases. Sembinov emphasized that Kazakhstan is the 
lone Central Asian state with a development plan that extends 
to the year 2030. 
 
3. (U) Soldiers and Noncommissioned Officers. Sembinov 
continued that the economic development of Kazakhstan has 
allowed the Armed Forces to modernize. Current Kazakhstani 
law dictates that the defense budget must be no less than 1% 
of GDP. Over 65% of the Kazakhstani Armed Forces are now 
contracted soldiers, the first state in the region to achieve 
such progress. The Minister of Defense has decided that in 
addition to appointing a Sergeant Major of the Kazakhstani 
Armed Forces, there will be senior noncommissioned officers 
down to the battalion level. 
 
4. (C) Regional Situation. Sembinov stated that there is 
instability in the region. Unrest in neighboring countries 
creates an environment where extremists can operate. Among 
the undesirable activities these extremists are involved in 
are drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and trafficking in 
weapons. The Caspian region is an area of particular concern, 
both for Kazakhstan and for the world. He said that 
projections of known Kazakhstani oil reserves puts Kazakhstan 
in seventh place on the list of oil-producing nations. 
 
5. (C) Caspian Region. Sembinov continued that at the time of 
independence, there was no Kazakhstani maritime security 
capability in the Caspian region. Although Kazakhstan 
believes that all issues in the region associated with 
national interests must be settled politically and legally, a 
security capability is required. Kazakhstan has the longest 
coastline of any of the Caspian littoral states, yet 
currently has the most under-developed security capability. 
Kazakhstan's focus must be on developing military-technical 
cooperation with western states and developing an 
infrastructure capable of supporting a security force. 
Developing expanded capability in the Air Mobile Forces is 
also important. 
 
6. (U) War on Terrorism. Sembinov commented that while the 
majority of bilateral military cooperation takes place with 
Central Command, the Kazakhstani MOD is prepared to work 
closely with European Command as well. Kazakhstan is a 
dedicated and reliable partner in the global war on 
terrorism, as the history of overflights and diverted 
aircraft supporting operations in Afghanistan have shown. The 
Kazakhstani contingent in Iraq has destroyed over 3 million 
pieces of ordnance, and has begun training Iraqi units in 
explosive ordnance disposal. 
 
7. (U) Transformation Briefing. According to the briefer 
Lieutenant Colonel Zaganshin, the first major step in 
transformation was creating the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
committee and the system of regional commands for all Armed 
Forces units. Since terrorism is the chief threat to 
stability, counterterrorist missions and scenarios are 
included in all Armed Forces exercises. Additional 
multi-lateral exercises are the key to developing greater 
interoperability, particularly when staff officers at the 
Captain and Major level from different countries work 
together to plan and execute counterterrorist operations. 
Potential future partners for military cooperation are 
France, Spain, Denmark, and Norway. 
 
8. (C) Caspian Regional Security. Lieutenant Colonel 
Zaganshin briefed this subject as well, beginning his brief 
with the declarative statement that the sectoral division 
 
 
(sic) of the Caspian Sea cannot be accepted. Current 
Kazakhstani plans call for 56 gas/oil platforms (GOPLATS) and 
artificial islands to be in the northern Caspian by year 
2015. Potential threats in the Caspian include violations of 
territorial waters, piracy, proliferation of weapons and 
drugs, and foreign attempts to solve economic issues through 
violence. An interagency plan to address these issues is 
required, and Kazakhstan is in the midst of developing one. 
The primary directions of this plan are the development of 
the Kazakhstani Navy, developing and codifying interagency 
cooperation with the Border Guards, counterterrorist unit 
training, and a coordinated defense/security network of 
radars and communications. Since year 2005 has been declared 
as the year of quality in the Armed Forces, this year 
promises to be a busy one in this regard. 
 
9. (C) Peacekeeping Operations in Iraq briefing. Lieutenant 
Colonel Amanzhanov, a wounded veteran of the Kazakhstani 
engineer detachment in Iraq, presented a briefing on 
peacekeeping operations there. According to this briefing, 
the missions of the Kazakhstani unit are explosive and 
dangerous ordnance disposal and water purification. Because 
this mission is unique, the Kazakhstani Armed Forces have 
developed their own plan for pre-deployment training in these 
specialties, and are currently using this plan to train both 
their deploying contingents and Iraqi forces. The Kazakhstani 
contingent has successfully increased its force protection 
measures with the assistance of the U.S. leadership in Iraq, 
and are hopeful that any additional measures, should they be 
needed, will be taken as well. The briefing concluded with a 
re-statement of Kazakhstan's commitment to keep its 
contingent in Iraq for as long as it is needed there. 
 
10. (C) Lieutenant Colonel Talsabayev presented a briefing on 
Kazakhstani cooperation with NATO. Kazakhstan has registered 
for 140 Partnership for Peace events for 2005, has dedicated 
an officer and support staff to coordinating Kazakhstan's 
participation in PFP, and is the first nation in Central Asia 
to dedicate national funds to participate in NATO events. 
Kazakhstan plans to participate in the following NATO 
exercises in 2005; Cooperative Best Effort, Cooperative Key, 
and Cooperative Associate. Primary areas for future focus are 
enhanced cooperation with NATO are strengthening regional 
security in Central Asia, assisting in transformation 
programs for the Kazakhstani air force, preparation of 
international peacekeepers in explosive ordnance disposal, 
creating a PfP center for engineers, and conducting the KZ-UK 
exercise Steppe Eagle as an in the spirit of Partnership for 
Peace (ISO PFP) exercise. 
 
11. (U) General Wald thanked Sembinov for the briefings, 
saying he was impressed both by the content and by their 
presentation in English. He thanked Kazakhstan for 
participating in operations in Iraq, saying that its 
contribution has been positive. He confirmed that developing 
a professional noncommissioned officers corps is key to 
having a professional Armed Forces, expressing interest in 
hearing more about the program in the future. The NATO 
partners are conducting a conference of the member nations' 
senior noncommissioned leadership on 25 April, and perhaps 
the next step ought to be to invite the partner nations to 
participate in a future conference. He expressed his 
satisfaction with the level of Kazakhstan's engagement with 
NATO. He agreed with Kazakhstan's evaluation of security 
threats in the Caspian region. 
 
12. (S) Referring to his discussions in Azerbaijan, General 
Wald expressed interest in exploring the possibility of 
European Command's Special Operations Forces (SOF) training 
with their Kazakhstani counterparts. EUCOM SOF are currently 
working with Azerbaijani SOF to great effect. Training 
concerning operations on GOPLATS (gas and oil platforms) or 
vessel seizure operations on open water are two possible 
scenarios. He continued by offering that multi-lateral 
exercises or training on these missions is a good way ahead 
for the future. 
 ORDWAY 
 
 
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