Military - The Times Of Central Asia

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Tajikistan to Increase Defense Budget

Tajik authorities plan to increase the 2025 defense, law enforcement, and judiciary budget to 4.7 billion somoni ($446 million); a rise equivalent to $92 million compared to the $354 million spent in 2024. As a percentage, spending on the army and security forces will rise to 2.8 percent of GDP, up 0.2 percent from the previous year. In adherence to the State Secrets Act, data on the breakdown of the budget remains confidential. However, issues concerning the efficient spending of allocated funds have recently come to light. In August 2024, the Agency for State Financial Control and Anti-Corruption reported that over 120 million TJS ($11.3m), intended for clothing and food for servicemen, had been embezzled from the Defense Ministry. In response, a criminal case was opened against 52 suspects, including ministry officials. According to documentation of increased military spending in Central Asia by the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI), in 2023, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan's expenditure on defense totalled $1.8 billion. Figures for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan remain unknown. The growth of the defense budget in the region is due to several factors, and in particular, border conflicts between Central Asian countries, the unstable situation in Afghanistan, and the war in Ukraine which have forced the region's states to strengthen their defense and revise strategic priorities regarding security. Changes in the geopolitical environment have also impacted military expenditure. Whilst Central Asian states previously relied heavily on Russia for security, the number of external partners has increased significantly. Alongside Russia, countries such as Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France, China, and Belarus, are beginning to play an essential role in the region's security. They also supply arms and military equipment. Experts note that increasing defense budgets, while necessary to maintain stability, cannot solve all security-related problems, and for the foreseeable future, political instability and internal factors remain severe challenges for Central Asian countries.

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Kazakhstan Proposes to Abolish Compulsory Military Conscription

In Kazakhstan, activists have led calls to abolish compulsory military service by publishing a petition on the epetition.kz platform directed to the Ministry of Defense. The petition has been provoked by recent tragic cases among servicemen, which, the document's authors say, revealed severe problems in the Kazakh army. The petition emphasizes that the main issues are hazing and non-statutory relations, which exert strong pressure on conscripts, causing psychological trauma and, in some cases, suicide. The authors are also concerned about soldiers' inadequate training. They believe modern challenges and technologies can be effectively countered only by professional soldiers, not temporarily conscripted ones. The authors cite weak medical and psychological supervision as one of the military's critical problems, as it does not help conscripts adapt to army conditions. They propose a switch to a thoroughly professional army, which they believe would improve training and reduce the number of tragic incidents. The petition will be open until October 4. To be considered by the government, a petition in Kazakhstan must garner at least 50,000 votes. In recent years, Kazakhstan has observed an alarming increase in suicides among soldiers. In 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered an investigation to identify the causes of these incidents. Hazing and psychological pressure remains one of the key causes of these tragedies. Despite the measures taken, such incidents continue. Last month Kazakhstan was shocked by the death of a conscripted soldier in the Mangistau region. According to some reports, an officer shot the enlisted man in the face with a pistol.

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U.S. Decision to Give Military Aircraft to Uzbekistan Upsets Taliban

Ownership of 46 U.S. military aircraft that have sat on the tarmac in Uzbekistan’s southern city of Termez for more than three years has finally been established. Most of those planes and helicopters are going to Uzbekistan, and south of the Uzbek border in Afghanistan, the Taliban are not pleased with this decision. Escape from Afghanistan On August 15, 2021, Taliban forces freely entered Kabul and reestablished themselves in power. The rapid advances of Taliban militants across Afghanistan earlier that month came as the last foreign forces were departing from the country. Panic broke out throughout the nation. On the day the Taliban entered Kabul, dozens of Afghan Army aircraft carrying government officials and soldiers left their bases and flew north, some to Tajikistan, most to Uzbekistan. In Uzbekistan, the Afghans were deported to U.S. custody and taken to the United Arab Emirates, where they were eventually given U.S. visas and sent to live in the United States. However, the 22 planes and 24 helicopters they flew aboard to Uzbekistan have remained at Termez. The aircraft belonged to the United States. They were loaned for use by the U.S.-backed government forces in Afghanistan. The Taliban assert that all the weapons used by troops of the ousted Afghan government belong to the Afghan people, meaning to the Taliban. On January 4, 2022, Taliban Defense Ministry representative, Inomulla Samagani, said a request for the return of the aircraft had been made to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Days later, the Taliban’s acting Defense Minister, Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, demanded their return. “Our planes that you have, that are in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, must be returned to us,” Yaqoob said, warning both countries, “not to test our patience and not to force us to take possible retaliatory steps to [reclaim the aircraft].” As economic relations have grown between Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and Uzbekistan since late 2021, the Taliban’s language has softened, but their claim to the planes and helicopters has been repeated several times. On August 24, 2024, Uzbekistan’s kun.uz news agency reported that U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Johnathan Henick had stated that most of the U.S. aircraft in Uzbekistan would be handed over to the Uzbek government. “Yes, it is already official,” Henick said. “The military equipment will remain in Uzbekistan, this is already settled.” Unsurprisingly, the Taliban Defense Ministry responded to Henick’s remarks. “Any agreement regarding the fate of Afghan helicopters and planes in Uzbekistan is unacceptable,” a Taliban Defense Ministry statement stated. Taliban Defense Ministry spokesman, Emayatullah Khwarazmi, said in an audio statement released on August 27 that the “government of Uzbekistan is expected to refrain from any dealings in this regard, to consider good neighborly relations, and to make a wise decision by cooperating in the return of Afghanistan's air force aircraft." U.S. officials have made it clear since 2021 that under no circumstance would the aircraft be given to Afghanistan. During a visit to Dushanbe in June 2022, Commander of the U.S. Central Command, General...

Military

Militaries From Five Countries to Hold Exercises in Kazakhstan

The armed forces of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will hold a joint exercise called Birlestik (Unification) 2024 in July of this year. They will be held at the Oymasha training ground and at Cape Tokmak, located on the Caspian Sea. During the events, the various militaries will train and undertake combat tasks aimed at defining the zone of armed conflicts. Last July, the militaries of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan held a joint computerized command and staff exercise named UZAZAZ-2023 in Tashkent. The theme of the event was, according to a joint statement, "organization and conduct of special operations of troops to limit, weaken and destroy illegal armed formations." The exercise provided an opportunity for representatives of the two countries to exchange experiences in preventing illegal infiltration across the state border and conducting combat against illegal armed groups. They discussed the conduct of military operations during armed clashes, as well as the combat operations of special groups and battalions. Uzbekistan, together with Kazakhstan, often conducts joint military exercises. For example, last August, service personnel from the two countries took part in joint tactical and special exercises at Kazakhstan's Oymasha training range, during which the participants exchanged their experiences and improved the qualifications of service personnel. In a 2024 military power ranking published in January, Kazakhstan came out on top among Central Asian countries. Uzbekistan dropped down in last year's ranking, falling to 65th place among 145 countries

Military

Kazakhstan Searches For More Military Personnel

Kazakhstan’s army is suffering from a high outflow of staff, the country’s first deputy minister of defense, Sultan Kamaletdinov, announced at a parliamentary defense and security meeting on January 30th. Mr Kamaletdinov explained that between 2020 and 2023 over 17,000 military personnel had left the Armed Forces, mostly contract soldiers but including 4,300 commissioned officers. The deputy minister added that one of the reasons for the outflow is the soldiers’ relatively low salary. The Ministry of Defense announced on January 31st that the ranks of the Kazakh army would be replenished by reserve commissioned officers who have not completed military service. These are university graduates, predominantly from technical courses, who receive the rank of lieutenant along with their diplomas. This year 600 reserve officers will be drafted into the Armed Forces and 152 into the Border Guard Service, the National Guard, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Priority will be given to unemployed reserve officers. In the 2024 Military Strength Ranking released by the Global Firepower agency, Kazakhstan ranked 58th of the 145 countries listed — the highest among Central Asian countries. Uzbekistan is in 65th place on the list, Turkmenistan 83rd, Kyrgyzstan 100th, and Tajikistan 107th. Global Firepower ranks the nations of the world based on their current war-making capability across land, sea, and air.

Military

Uzbekistan Modernizing Defense Industry

The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev on January 11th visited the production cluster of the Defense Industry Agency located in the Tashkent region. At the initiative and under the supervision of Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan is reforming and modernizing its armed forces to fully meets modern requirements and guarantee the nation’s independence and sovereignty, the presidential press service stated. For this purpose, in January 2023 the President transferred the Defense Industry Agency to the Ministry of Defense. The Agency has since launched the production of several types of military-technical products, supplied modern equipment to troops, and updated existing models of weapons. An equipment repair plant and the central storage base for automotive equipment of the Ministry of Defense have been transferred to a cluster territory. Enterprises located in the new cluster repair and modernize weapons and military equipment, radars, optical devices, and artillery. During his visit, Mirziyoyev was shown samples of upgraded equipment and weapons, and devices that are part of the “Soldier of the Future” complex, which was developed by specialists to meet global standards. The President also launched an enterprise producing a new range of military hardware. Established in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, January 14th will mark the 32nd anniversary of the founding of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Twelve months military conscription is compulsory for males at the age of 18, with the option of paying for a shorter service of one month whilst remaining in the reserves until the age of 27. Upon completion of their service, privileges in employment and admission to higher educational institutions are granted. The armed forces constitute an acting personnel of 48,000, with 20,000 in reserve. In the 2024 Military Strength Ranking released by the Global Firepower, Uzbekistan ranked 65th among the 145 countries listed. Elsewhere in Central Asia, Kazakhstan ranked in 58th place, Turkmenistan 83rd, Kyrgyzstan 100th, and Tajikistan 107th. Despite the modernization drive, however, this position marked a decline in Uzbekistan’s ranking, down from 62nd place in the previous year.