Kazakhstan

1. Nation: REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

The Republic of Kazakhstan is located in the middle of Central Asia with a population of about 15 million people, composed of Kazakhs, Russians and others.

In terms of area, Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world, yielding only to Russia, China, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and Australia. The territory of the republic covers 2,724,900 square kilometers.

From the lower region of the Volga River near the West-Siberian lowland on the West, to the Altay foothills on the East, Kazakhstan's border stretches some 3,000 kilometers. From the North to the South, Kazakhstan stretches 2,000 kilometers – from the West-Siberian plain near the Kyzylkum desert to the Tien Shan mountains.

Kazakhstan shares a border with: The Russian Federation (7,591 km), Uzbekistan (2,354 km), China (1,782 km), Kyrgyzstan (1,241 km) and Turkmenistan (426 km). More than a quarter of the Kazakhstan territory has a steppe geography, 44% is composed of deserts and semi-deserts, and 14% consists of woodlands.

In 1997, Astana became the new capital city (replacing Almaty). The state language is Kazakh. In state institutions and local self-administrative bodies, the Russian language is used officially on equal terms with the Kazakh language. The predominant religion is Islam, with Sunnites in the majority. The Kazakh khanate was formed in the 15th century and had 3 tribal divisions (juz). From the 1860s, all of them became part of the Russian Empire. November 1917 - March 1918 is the period of the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan.

December 16, 1991 became a turning point in Kazakhstan's development when the Constitutional Law "On State Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan" was adopted. Kazakhstan’s strategic location makes it a major player in the Global War on Terror.

2. Support to Operation Enduring Freedom:

Kazakhstan makes a considerable contribution by providing its airspace free of charge to Coalition and partner aircraft for overflights involved with Operation Enduring Freedom: Since 2003, more than 6,300 aircraft used Kazakh airspace for this purpose, and made more than 100 emergency landings on Kazakhstan’s airfields. More than 4 thousand metric tons of wheat were donated as a humanitarian aid, with plans to deliver 2 thousand more tons. Considerable amounts of logistics equipment and technical documentation have been donated to the Afghan national army as well.

3. Support to Operation Iraqi Freedom:

An engineering and water purification unit has been in Iraq since August 2003. Our engineers disarmed more than 4.5 million EODs, and military doctors provided assistance to more than 2,500 peaceful Iraqi citizens. Our officers and sergeants successfully teach EOD handling to Iraqis.

4. Humanitarian Support to the people of Afghanistan/Iraq:

The Government of Kazakhstan approved an assistance plan for Afghanistan that foresees Kazakhstan’s participation in the rehabilitating of the Afghan economy, implementation of investment, trade and humanitarian projects, training of personnel, and village infrastructure development. More than 2.5 million U.S. dollars from Kazakhstan’s budget is being devoted to this purpose.

5. Name of SNR, size/structure of staff, e-mail address:

SNR: LTC YERLAN TALASBAYEV, KZ ARMY.

LNO`s: LTC AMAN AKHMETZHANOV, KZ AIR FORCES,

MAJ SAGINTAY BISSEKEYEV, KZ AIR FORCES.

6. LINKS:

I. Fact book: www.akorda.kz

II. Defence: www.mod.kz

III. Foreign Affairs: www.mfa.kz