KAZBRIG is "an airborne assault battalion...for deployment in NATO-led peace support operations" provided by Kazakhstan. [27]
In the same month General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, visited Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to enlist support for the war in Afghanistan, at the time particularly for the transit of non-lethal military freight. There was speculation that Petraeus was also soliciting troop contributions.
Four months before, NATO's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia and Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Security Cooperation and Partnership Robert Simmons, the individual most responsible for extending NATO bases and troop presence from the Balkans to the Chinese border, [28] was quoted saying "NATO is awaiting a decision from Kazakhstan on dispatching a peacekeeping contingent to Afghanistan." [29]
He made that statement while addressing Kazakh journalists at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "Simmons said Kazakh peacekeepers could be sent to Afghanistan and appropriate documents had been developed by NATO and passed to Kazakhstan." [30]
In September Simmons was in Kazakhstan where he "discussed the further
development of Kazakhstan-NATO cooperation at a meeting in the Kazakh Senate." [31]
In September U.S. Ambassador Richard Hoagland reiterated the request. While giving a speech at the opening ceremony of the Steppe Eagle-2009 military training exercise which included "1,300 servicemen from Kazakhstan, the UK, and the U.S." and "100 units of combat and special equipment and military transport aircraft" to "check the coordination of Kazbrig units and NATO forces in peacekeeping operations," he "offered to Kazakhstan to take part in the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan." [32]
In the same month NATO held its first military exercise in Central Asia, ZHETYSU 2009, in Kazakhstan. A six-day disaster response exercise, it included 500 Kazakh and an equal amount of NATO and non-Kazakh Partnership for Peace forces.
In early October French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the capital of Kazakhstan, which took over the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) this year, and signed a bilateral military agreement which allows "France to use Kazakh territory and airspace to supply its 3,070 troops deployed in Afghanistan."
"Paris's unique relationship with Astana might help secure a policy objective long pursued by Washington and London. This relates to convincing Astana to operationally deploy peacekeepers from its peacekeeping brigade (KAZBRIG) to support the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
"U.S. and U.K. military cooperation with Kazakhstan since 2003 has focused, among other key goals, on developing the country's peace support operations (PSO) capabilities, in line with its NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) goals...." [33]
As part of what was described as a strategic partnership, "The military transit deal had been under discussion for two years and covers both air transit and train transit of French military personnel and equipment via Kazakhstan, according to a French Foreign Ministry spokesman. He said train
traffic could then go through neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan where France already has a military presence." [34]
To again illustrate that the NATO corridor from the Black Sea to Central Asia runs in both directions:
"Kazakhstan also awarded a consortium of French companies a deal to take part in building a crucial $2 billion oil pipeline linking the vast Kashagan field to the Caspian. Energy supplies through the route will be transported across the inland sea by tanker to Azerbaijan and pumped by pipeline westward to Europe, circumventing Russia....Other commercial accords included an agreement to create a joint venture between the two countries' state-owned nuclear power companies to produce and market fuel for nuclear power plants." [35]
Only days earlier it was reported that the governments of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan had announced further plans for oil transit arrangements between the two countries: "Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest oil producer, already ships some of its output by tankers across the Caspian to Baku, where it is fed into the Baku-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa pipelines....Kazakhstan plans to double oil output to 150 million tonnes a year within the next decade, largely by starting production at Kashagan, the world's biggest oil find in the last 30 years." [36]
Earlier in the year the Kazakh Defense Ministry "asked Israel to help it modernize its military and produce weapons that comply with NATO
standards." [37] In July Israeli President Shimon Peres became first high-ranking official of his nation to visit Kazakhstan as well as Azerbaijan. He led a delegation that included Defense Ministry Director-General Pinhas Buchris and "some 60 representatives of military-industrial companies." [38]
At the time the Jerusalem Post reported that "Kazakhstan's commitment to purchase satellite and surveillance technology from Israel reflects the growing role of Israeli defense industries in the country." [39]
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