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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kazakstan
Index
In 1992 Kazakstan adopted a three-stage defense doctrine, calling for
creation of administrative, command, and support organizations in 1992,
restructuring of field forces between 1993 and 1996, and a modernization
process leading to establishment of a fully professional military force by
2000. In 1992 Minister of Defense Sagadat Nurmagambetov abandoned the last
goal as impractical, calling rather for a combination of conscripts and
contract service personnel. In the summer of 1994, Kazakstan's Institute
for Strategic Studies called for the complete abandonment of the official
defense doctrine. The existing doctrine was criticized for being based on
outmoded Soviet precepts that combined fear of hostile military
encirclement with a commitment to peace that approached pacificism.
The institute argued that Kazakstan should instead base its defense
policies on the assumption that the republic likely would find itself amid
border confrontations involving CIS nations, an expansionist China, and
Islamic neighbors with enhanced power and ambition. To prepare for such
events, the institute recommended de-emphasizing military development and
instead pursuing multinational defense agreements along the lines of
Nazarbayev's proposed Euro-Asian Union or, absent that, a military
alliance with Russia and active pursuit of NATO membership. Kazakstan
became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1994.
Following the appearance of the institute's evaluation, the Ministry of
Defense has acknowledged that the second of its original
goals--restructuring of field forces by 1996--likely could not be
achieved. This admission meant that Kazakstan's dependence upon Russia
likely would become even greater. In January 1995, the two countries
signed agreements committing them to creation of "unified armed
forces." To deflect criticism that such an agreement was inimical to
national sovereignty, Nazarbayev likened the new arrangement to the Warsaw
Pact and NATO, as distinct from the formation of a single armed force. At
the same time, Russia formally took up shared responsibility for patrol of
Kazakstan's international borders (under a nominally joint command), which
in practice meant the border with China.
Data as of March 1996
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