Roger N. McDermott

Uzbekistan and the US: partners against terrorism

With Central Asia having found itself at the epicenter of the recent counter-terrorism campaign, many scholars studying this region were perhaps confused because of the sudden change from viewing the area as on the periphery of world affairs to viewing it as vitally strategic. The war against international terrorism was launched and is being conducted with the active participation of Central Asian countries. These countries are relatively weak and are experiencing enormous socio-economic and political changes. But despite – and because of – this, and because they are facing the threat of terrorism affecting their national and regional security, the five states of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and particularly Uzbekistan – offered their assistance to the counter-terrorist coalition. In this regard two particular issues deserve special consideration: the threat of terrorism in Central Asia and the newly-emerged US-Uzbek strategic partnership, with the latter having become a...

Russia’s Military Operation in Crimea

The preparations for a new rapid reaction forces model in Russia played an instrumental role in the Kremlin’s options and planning for the Crimean operation that followed.

Russia and the Intelligence Services of Central Asia

The role and activities of intelligence services in most advanced democracies are routinely subject to media scrutiny and independent oversight or review of one kind or another. While considered essential to the national security of these countries, their powers are not without limits and are often challenged in court. The situation was the exact reverse in the former Soviet Union, where the Committee for State Security (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti—KGB) wielded enormous power and influence. Although the dissolution of the Soviet Union effectively marked the death of the KGB, its different components survived in various forms, either as new agencies, such as those in Russia, or identical to the old KGB with a new name, such as those in Central Asia. While more scrutiny was being paid to the newly formed Russian intelligence agencies, elsewhere former KGB officials found their way into the entire state structure, including the presidency, thereby preventing the type of reforms and accountability practices found in advanced democracies from fully developing. In Central Asia, where governance and state institutions are relatively weak, the authoritarian leaderships have used their former republican KGBs ‘‘as

United States and NATO Military Cooperation with Kazakhstan: The Need for a New Approach∗

Since the formation of Kazakhstans armed forces in the early 1990s, western countries have taken an increasingly active interest in providing military cooperation aimed at enhancing Kazakhstans defence capabilities. This process was intensified in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 with Kazakhstan emerging as an important partner within Central Asia in the Global War on Terrorism. The United States, Turkey, U.K. and France have developed security assistance programmes with Kazakhstan, while the latter is also seeking to further diversify its bilateral military cooperation with other western countries as well as deepening its partnership with the NATO alliance. 1 1Foreign Military Training In Fiscal Years 2003 and 2004, Volume I, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of State Joint Report to Congress, Released June 2004; FY 2002 U.S. Assistance to Eurasia, U.S. Government Assistance to and Cooperative Activities with Eurasia, January 2003. A key feature of western security assistance has been to help Kazakhstan strengthen its defence capabilities in the Caspian region in order to provide adequate independent protection for its burgeoning energy interests in the Caspian Sea. These cooperation programmes present significant challenges for Kazakhstan as it seeks to maximise its rewards from western assistance. Similarly, there have been hurdles to overcome by western planning staffs in tailoring this aid to meet Kazakhstans needs. Western security assistance to Kazakhstan has often neglected or underestimated the close nature of Kazakhstans security relationship with Russia. Consequently, fears in Moscow that the Caspian is becoming ‘militarised’ are a natural result of western policymakers failing to engage adequately with Russia. Kazakhstan is currently gaining invaluable dividends from western cooperation, but it has not capitalised fully upon these opportunities.

Border Security in Kazakhstan: Threats, Policies and Future Challenges

The Republic of Kazakhstan has been confronted by complex border security problems, which its government has failed to adequately address. Relevant state structures are gradually taking more seriously the task of improving border security, though this process will be long and arduous requiring consistent political will to tackle a whole host of interrelated problems and issues. Kazakhstans borders are exposed to numerous diverse threats, including illegal narcotics smuggling, arms trafficking, WMD materials and militants transiting through its territory, which has facilitated and internationalised its search for foreign assistance. In the following article, the authors explore the evolution and nature of these threats, governmental policies that have ensued and analyse some of the future challenges involved in enhancing Kazakhstan’s border security.

Russia’s Military Operation in Crimea: Road-Testing Rapid Reaction Capabilities

The preparations for a new rapid reaction forces model in Russia played an instrumental role in the Kremlin’s options and planning for the Crimean operation that followed.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Impact on Central Asian Security: A View from Kazakhstan

The focus of Western experts and policy makers on China and Russia may distort their understanding of how the Shanghai Cooperation Organization operates.

The Restructuring of the Modern Russian Army

The breathtaking level of unprecedented change within the Russian armed forces, first announced in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, not only proved rapid and quite unlike any of the failed reform attempts since 1992, but it caught many in the West and Russia unawares. While many concentrated on the proposed downsizing of the officer corps, which planned to axe 205,000 officers in order to maximize efficiency, a yet greater changed quietly and systematically implemented in the course of 2009 went almost unnoticed in the West; yet its policy implications will compel western governments to reassess their relations with Russia and their understanding of Russias defense posture. In short, the mass mobilization principle, which had hitherto defined the Russian military, passed quietly into history, as the division-based structure within the table of organization was steadily and completely replaced by a new brigade-based structure. This revolution within the structures of the Russian armed forces, with its geopolitical and military implications still being assessed, is examined in this article, stressing the sense of continuity, preservation of the division-based structure within the airborne forces as well as highlighting some of the challenges facing these new brigades in future.

The armed forces of the republic of Uzbekistan 1992–2002: Threats, influences and reform

The armed forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan have emerged from their first decade as the strongest, most respected and combat ready of any found within Central Asia. Faced with the difficulties and legacy of the Soviet collaapse in 1991 and its negative impact upon the early formation of the Uzbek armed forces, witnessing the exodus of ethnic Russian officers to Russia and the Ukraine, these forces have proven resilient and perhaps the most ‘pro‐Western’ of their regional counterparts. This article examines the features of the Uzbek military within this period, particularly considering its stages of reform in the context of the internal and external threats posed by Islamic extremism and international terrorism, while recognizing the disparate influences on the course of its military reform.

Chaplains, Political Officers, and the Russian Armed Forces

Russian military leaders are hoping that restoration of the imperial-era institution of chaplains and the Soviet-era institution of political officers will help them to deal with serious morale and discipline problems in the ranks.