KAZAKHSTAN: DEPUTY EUCOM COMMANDER'S MEETING WITH

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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