KAZAKHSTAN: COMBATING EXTREMISM

S E C R E T ALMATY 003431

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR R, P, AND EUR/CACEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2015
TAGS: PREL PHUM EAID KDEM KZ POLITICAL
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: COMBATING EXTREMISM

REF: A. A. STATE 159129

B. B. 04 ALMATY 4562

C. C. ALMATY 2724

Classified By: Amb. John Ordway, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (S) Summary: Efforts to insure stability by supporting
political reform and countering terrorism are at the top of
the bilateral U.S.-Kazakhstan relationship, as reflected in
the first two performance goal's of the Kazakhstan MPP. Post
engages in a continuous dialogue with all levels of the
Kazakhstani government about the need to balance law
enforcement activities with greater respect for human rights.
While the GOK does not always strike an equitable balance,
as evidenced by the very troublesome legislation on extremism
adopted earlier this year, overall the country's leadership
understands the need to counter extremist and terrorist
threats without exacerbating the situation. The U.S.
government implements an extremely wide-ranging assistance
program in Kazakhstan, with programs ranging from threat
reduction and non-proliferation to HIV/AIDS prevention to
English teaching. Many of these programs address the problem
of countering extremism either indirectly, by alleviating
conditions that provide fertile ground for extremists, or
directly by advancing tolerance and understanding. End
summary.

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U.S. Programs Addressing Extremism
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2. (SBU) USAID programs: Most of USAID's programming in
Kazakhstan indirectly contributes to USG counter-extremism
efforts, since it aims to alleviate the conditions
(unemployment, economic disparity, lack of access to primary
health care, limited educational opportunities, absence of
political freedom, and corruption) that foster the growth of
extremism. Unaddressed, these factors may lead to
disillusionment and cause the disenfranchised to become more
susceptible to the allure of extremist messages. USAID also
undertakes more targeted, direct interventions to address the
potential threat of Islamic extremism in Kazakhstan. To help
coordinate such programming, USAID hired a Religion, State,
and Society (RSS) specialist in September 2004 to work
directly with religious communities and local governments to
develop and implement interventions aimed at preventing the
spread of Islamic extremism in the region. The RSS
specialist, who is based in Tashkent, works with State
Department and USAID colleagues in all countries of Central
Asia to achieve this outcome. The strategic approach entails
active engagement with religious groups, where appropriate,
to generate a sense of partnership and to increase overall
understanding of USG assistance priorities, and the inclusion
of religious believers in civil society and the promotion of
religious freedom as a means of reducing the pool of
discontented and disaffected individuals from which
extremists might recruit. Programs to date which directly
address extremism in Kazakhstan include:

-- Religious leaders/media tours: USAID conducts tours of
program sites for religious leaders, community leaders,
students, and the media in order to showcase USG assistance
programs and their benefits through the eyes of
beneficiaries. The tours have resulted in a greater
understanding of USG goals in the region, have created an
alternate message to extremist rhetoric through positive
reporting on USG assistance programs and goals.

-- Conflict Mitigation Program: In Kazakhstan, USAID has
worked to engage vulnerable communities in the three-year
Community Action Investment Program (CAIP),which ended in
summer 2005. Through a community participatory development
process, USAID brought together disparate groups of citizens
to help resolve community-based issues which could breed
extremism in isolated areas in southern Kazakhstan (South
Kazakhstan, Zhambul, and Almaty oblasts). CAIP's
community-based organizations invite local religious and
spiritual leaders to participate with other members of their
communities to resolve issues through social and
infrastructure programs. Many religious leaders are at the
forefront of efforts to mobilize communities to implement
programs, such as school reconstruction and refurbishment,
which target at-risk youth groups. CAIP has worked in 30
communities, directly benefiting more than 246,000 people and
employing over 2500 people. Although the USAID program has
ended, CAIP local staff formed an NGO to continue to work
closely with the religious community on issues of tolerance,
fighting extremism, and general community development in
targeted locations.

-- Micro-Finance to Rural Entrepreneurs: Micro and rural
finance programs support stable democratic and
market-oriented development by working with the portion of

the population that is generally not reached by banks or
integrated into the formal economy. As poverty is alleviated
and jobs created, the likelihood that individuals will resort
to extremism is decreased. USAID is working on two
microfinance projects in Kazakhstan that, in part, benefit
groups susceptible to recruitment by extremists: the Central
Asia Microfinance Alliance (CAMFA) and the EBRD Micro and
Small Business Lending Program. CAMFA, which began in
October 2002 and will end in October 2006, addresses three
primary constraints in the regional microfinance sector:
limited capacity and capital for existing microfinance
institutions, the unclear legal and regulatory environment,
and limited availability of microfinance services. So far,
27 microfinance institutions serving 63,000 clients have
directly benefited from CAMFA assistance. The EBRD Micro and
Small Business Lending Program, which began in July 2002 and
ends in September 2007, USAID funds technical assistance to
commercial banks that operate EBRD-funded micro and small
finance facilities, helping their lending officers better
assess loan applications from small business owners and
expand their loan portfolios. 49,600 clients have been
assisted through this program to date.

-- Training for Religious Leaders on Trafficking Issues:
USAID's three-year follow-on trafficking in persons program,
scheduled to begin in January 2006, contains a component
designed to raise the awareness of religious leaders
regarding the issues of labor and sex trafficking. The goal
is to encourage religious leaders to spread information in
mosques regarding labor trafficking and to promote local
tolerance for returning victims of sex trafficking. This
program is expected to reduce the chances that trafficking
victims will fall prey to extremist propaganda.


3. (SBU) Peace Corps: There are 80 Peace Corps Volunteers
(PCVs) teaching English in Kazakhstan, primarily to the rural
non-elite. With English language skills, isolated youth have
the option of accessing a much broader range of news reports
and other information sources than they would get from local
Kazakh and Russian-language media. In addition, PC's
Education program focuses on enhancing critical thinking
skills that are largely absent in the local curriculum. This
skill results in youths' enhanced ability to question the
status quo and opens their minds to other possibilities and
value systems. While PCVs are not involved in political
activities and do not advocate for one political system over
another, on a daily basis they model openness, respect and
tolerance of all people regardless of religion or ethnic
background. Forty other PCVs work in youth- and
civic-oriented NGOs, helping develop the capacity of these
domestic organizations to address the key problems facing
at-risk youth and their communities. The youth NGOs also
teach tolerance in practice, by bringing together diverse
groups of Kazakhstani young people for events such as girls'
leadership camps. The exposure to youth of different faiths
and ethnicities inculcates a more tolerant attitude in the
participants.


4. (SBU) Public Affairs: Complimenting the longer-term
projects undertaken by USAID and Peace Corps, the Public
Affairs Section regularly uses its shorter-term exchange and
outreach programs to underscore the message of tolerance.
Examples of such programs in FY05 include:

-- U.S. speaker Hibba Abugideri gave a series of lectures on
"African-Americans and Islam in the U.S." in February.
Several of her lectures attracted young head-scarved Kazakh
women eager to discuss ways of balancing their faith with
their political rights.

-- Also in February, Ambassador Ordway met with Islamic
leaders in Shymkent who had participated in PA's
International Visitor and Community Connections programs to
discuss the impact of their U.S. experience on their efforts
to promote religious freedom and interethnic understanding in
Kazakhstan.

-- A Kazakhstani television crew traveled to the U.S. in July
through a PA-sponsored TV COOP program to produce a
documentary on Muslim life in America. The program is
expected to air this fall on Mir TV, a cable company with
affiliates throughout Central Asia; the expected audience is
upwards of 500,000.

-- Post's Democracy Commission, managed by PA, approved a
$13,000 grant in July for the creation of a Center for
Religious Tolerance in Shymkent, South Kazakhstan Oblast,
which is expected to open in mid-October. The project, which
will be undertaken by an organization called Youth for the
Development of Democratic Processes, will provide the general
public with access to information about religions of the
world, with the aim of promoting religious tolerance and
pluralism. The center will provide Internet access and

contain books, reference materials, and publications about
religion, sociology, theology, and anthropology of religion.
The center will offer monthly training sessions on the basics
of religion, the role of religions in democracies, and the
role of religion in resolving social issues. It will also
organize inter-religious forums and roundtable discussions
with religious and public leaders to discuss urgent social
and political questions.

-- from 2003 to 2005, through a program called "Religion,
Human Rights, and Democracy: Peer Interactions between U.S.
and Kazakhstani Religious and Civic Leaders," participants
from Taraz and Shymkent in southern Kazakhstan traveled to
the U.S. on exchange programs focused on religious and
cultural tolerance.


5. (SBU) While not directly targeted at extremism, the
variety of training programs and joint military exercises for
Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry
of Emergency Situations, and Border Guard personnel offered
by DAO, SAO, DTRA, INL, and EXBS serve to raise the standards
of professionalism in these organizations. This in turn
decreases the likelihood that the security forces would abuse
the general population and thereby provoke extremism.

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The GOK's Approach
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6. (S) In general as it confronts a small but growing
extremist threat (analysis to be provided septel),the
government of Kazakhstan focuses more on the law enforcement
aspect than on efforts to reach out to at-risk groups. The
GOK's overall program of economic diversification, if
successful, will have a beneficial impact on the problem by
alleviating the dire economic conditions in rural areas that
create breeding grounds for extremism. The economic
development plan is not targeted specifically at the most
at-risk groups or regions, however. The overall strong
growth of the Kazakhstani economy in the past decade --
averaging 9% a year with inflation remaining under control --
is the GOK's best ally in the fight, as it is raising the
standard of living for Kazakhstani citizens across the board.
As a secular government, the GOK ensures equal access to
education for women and girls, is trying to modernize the
educational system, and devotes substantial resources to
scientific endeavors such as Bolashak scholarships and a new
$60 million National Center for Biotechnology. President
Nazarbayev is rightly proud of Kazakhstan's record of
interethnic and interfaith harmony; it is one of the few
former Soviet republics that has not experienced violent
conflict within its borders since independence. He
frequently holds and attends events highlighting tolerance
issues.


7. (S) Like the U.S., the GOK is extremely concerned about
the activities of Hizb'ut Tahrir (HT) in Central Asia. In
large part because the GOK could not ban HT under existing
Kazakhstani counterterrorism legislation, President
Nazarbayev signed legislation in February banning "extremist"
organizations (ref B). The new legislation provided a very
imprecise definition of extremism, including "fomenting
social unrest." Although the GOK has stated that the
legislation will be used only against groups such as HT,
there is widespread concern in the human rights community
that it could be used to limit basic freedoms. Such concerns
appear justified, as opposition political party activists
report that local authorities have seized complete print runs
of independent newspapers and party literature on several
occasions on the pretext that it had be to reviewed for
extremist content.


8. (S) Kazakhstani authorities frequently arrest HT activists
and those found distributing HT literature. Human rights
groups that focus on religious freedom issues and prison
conditions, such as the Almaty Helsinki Committee and Prison
Reform International, believe that by jailing young people
who are hired to distribute HT pamphlets, the GOK contributes
to their radicalization. In an effort to impede HT's
recruiting efforts in prisons, which are reportedly
relatively successful, the GOK has begun to segregate HT
members from the general prison population. It is currently
grappling with the fact that such segregation hinders efforts
to rehabilitate HT members.


9. (S) In conversations with the Embassy, the GOK-affiliated
"Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan," the
official hierarchy of the Islamic faith in Kazakhstan,
minimizes the threat posed by HT and similar groups. They do
not appear to have a proactive approach to countering HT's
propaganda. When asked about outreach efforts during a
conversation with the Ambassador (ref C),the Deputy Mufti
explained that "only Allah can bring them to the mosque; if

they come, we will teach them." A new group, the "Union of
Muslims of Kazakhstan," emerged in April 2005 with the goals
of reforming Islam in Kazakhstan and democratization. When
the Union issued a statement that the revolutions in
Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Ukraine were the result of desperate
social injustice, the Spiritual Administration immediately
filed a lawsuit charging the new group with "fanning
religious conflicts." The Union has maintained a low public
profile since that time.

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Comment
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10. (S) Post believes that its assistance programs address a
broad range of the fundamental problems that contribute to
extremism. We will continue to look for more opportunities
to direct assistance efforts toward this issue. We will also
continue our dialogue with the GOK on the need to focus its
law enforcement efforts only on those groups and individuals
that present a genuine threat, as well as the need to devote
greater attention to the root causes of extremism.
ORDWAY


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