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Kazakhstan’s Police Step Up Patrols Near Synagogues and Israeli Diplomatic Facilities

In Kazakhstan, police have intensified patrolling near synagogues and Israeli diplomatic facilities. This was reported on October 2 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to Shyngys Alekeshev, head of the ministry's department of information policy, the embassy facilities are, as before, under constant police protection, ensuring their safety in the current situation. “All religious sites have also long been under the control of the IAB; patrol routes are closer to these sites. Additionally, video monitoring of the adjacent territory is carried out through the DSC cameras,” he said. On the night of October 1 to 2, Iran fired rockets at the territory of Israel in response to the Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon and the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. According to the Iranian side, this was only the first wave of the attack, targeting key Israeli military and strategic sites. Earlier, it was reported that Iran was planning to use ballistic missiles in the attack, drawing a sharp reaction from the US. The White House has warned Iran of possible severe consequences if the aggression continues. The Israeli operation in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah facilities, resulted in significant casualties, with 95 people killed and another 172 wounded. Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has already condemned the airstrike on the residence of the head of the UAE's diplomatic mission in Sudan and called for restraint by urging the parties to resolve conflicts through diplomatic methods.

International Relations Security Afghanistan Diplomacy Taliban

Kyrgyzstan Removes Taliban From List of Terrorist Organizations

Kyrgyzstan has quietly removed the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations. Kyrgyzstan's Prosecutor General's Office recently published a list of extremist terrorist organizations whose activities are banned by courts in the country. The list includes 20 organizations, but the Taliban is not among them. The State Commission on Religious Affairs could not answer precisely why the Taliban is not on the list. Azamat Yusupov, the agency's deputy head, told reporters that the commission had nothing to do with approving the list. “Given the recent changes in Afghanistan, the Taliban can be removed from the list of terrorist organizations. It is better to contact the judiciary, which can answer this question more accurately,” Yusupov stated. Afghanistan's Taliban government has already responded. The foreign ministry of the unrecognized Islamic Emirate said it “welcomes and approves of the Kyrgyz authorities' decision to remove the Taliban from the list of banned groups.” “The step taken by Kyrgyzstan signifies the growing political recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at both regional and international levels and removes an obstacle to strengthening bilateral relations between Afghanistan and other countries,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. The Taliban has been recognized as a terrorist organization in different years and by other countries and organizations. For example, in Kazakhstan, the Taliban was recognized as a terrorist organization by the Supreme Court on March 15, 2005. And in Kyrgyzstan by the decision of the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek on September 15, 2006. In Russia, the Taliban was recognized as a terrorist organization by a decision of the Supreme Court in 2003. In June this year, Kazakhstan removed the Taliban regime from the terrorist list to develop economic interaction with Afghanistan. This was announced by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, at a meeting of the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). In May of this year, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Justice reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Taliban could be removed from the list of banned organizations; however, this issue still needs to be resolved in Russia.

Islamic State Khorasan Province SCO Taliban Terrorism Security Afghanistan

Uzbek Security Chief: SCO Must Help Afghanistan to Fight Islamic State Khorasan Province

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is holding its 10th regional anti-terrorism conference in Tashkent. The conference is being held on September 4 and 5. At the conference's plenary session, Lieutenant General Abdusalam Azizov, the head of Uzbekistan's State Security Service, emphasized that the member countries of the SCO must work together to fight against international terrorism, extremism, and radicalism. “The Afghan government is fighting international terrorism based on its capabilities and resources, and the Afghan special service is leading the fight against the Islamic State and achieving results. We must fight together against the enemy,” Azizov said. Regarding the branch of Islamic State known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which has claimed responsibility for several fatal attacks in SCO member countries, including the attack on the Crocus City concert hall outside Moscow earlier this year, Azizov said: “It is important to help Afghanistan in the fight against ISKP, because the weakening of countermeasures will lead to the strengthening of this group, which, in turn, poses a threat to the security of the region.” ISKP was formed in 2014 as a collective of defectors from groups including al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), and former Taliban fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is estimated that ISKP has between 4,000 and 6,000 members. Since the Taliban killed its leader Sanaullah Ghafari in 2023, it is unclear who runs the group.

Terrorism Security Extremism

Uzbek President: Global Conflicts Undercut Anti-Terror Efforts

International conflicts and antagonism among the world’s most powerful countries are undermining “the fight against the threats of terrorism and extremism,” Uzbekistan’s president said at a regional anti-terror conference this week in Tashkent. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev didn’t mention any conflicts or countries by name, but he was possibly referring to Russia’s war against Western-backed Ukraine, the Gaza war that has raised fears of a wider Mideast conflict, and tension between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies. Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries seek to balance their relations with these major powers, while also trying to address the threat of religious extremism that attracts some recruits from their region. “Unfortunately, geopolitical acrimony and the intensification of conflicts, the lack of mutual trust between the leading countries, the decline of the role of global security institutions have a negative impact on the development of open and effective international cooperation in the fight against the threats of terrorism and extremism,” said Mirziyoyev, who appealed for more dialogue and collaboration to counter the problem. He spoke to counter-terrorism delegates who were meeting under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States, which promote cooperation on economic, security and other issues in the Eurasian region. The two-day meeting in the Uzbek capital, which ends on Thursday, is discussing education and other ways to prevent the spread of radical ideas, as well as how to prevent terrorist financing. In the biggest terror attack in the region this year, gunmen killed about 140 people at the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow area on March 22. The Islamic State group, which is believed to have successfully recruited people from Central Asia, claimed responsibility. The suspected gunmen were Tajik migrants in Russia. Threats in cyberspace are increasing, according to the Uzbek president. “Active work on illegal activities, recruitment and promotion of radical ideas is increasingly carried out through Internet networks and channels that do not recognize national borders and legal norms,” Mirziyoyev said. He warned that online manipulation is directing “relatively weak sections of the population” such as young people and labor migrants toward criminal activity.

Tokmadi FBI BTA Ablyazov Justice Tatishev Crime Security Finance

Banker’s Murder: Former-FBI Director Speaks in Kazakhstan Over High-Stakes Tokmadi Parole Case

Louis Freeh, former director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will speak at a hearing of the Almaty Oblast Court on August 23 on the case to review the early release of businessman Muratkhan Tokmadi, who in 2018 was sentenced to ten and a half years for the 2004 murder of the BTA Bank chair, Yerzhan Tatishev. On August 9, it was ruled that Tokmadi should be released on parole after serving six and a half years. In 2017, Freeh led a team of U.S. investigators and forensic experts who were brought in by the Tatishev family to look into the death of Yerzhan Tatishev, one of the founders and co-owners of what was at the time Kazakhstan's largest bank. On the morning of the 23rd, Freeh, who served as a U.S. district judge before becoming the fifth director of the FBI, leading the agency from September 1993 to June 2001, shared details of his investigation with the media in Kazakhstan. "In 2018, Murakhan Tokmadi admitted that he killed Tatishev and said that he did it because Mukhtar Ablyazov promised to pay four million dollars. Ablyazov's goal was to gain control of BTA Bank," Freeh told reporters. "His accidental shooting is impossible... The gun didn't go off by itself." The probe and the findings of investigative firm Freeh Group International Solutions (FGIS), part of the law firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP (FSS), since acquired by Alix Partners LLP, formed the basis of the original indictment against Tokmadi, after FSS and FGIS staff accessed documents which proved the banker's death was willful. The court hearing into Tokmadi's parole was initiated by the family of the deceased. On December 19, 2004, Yerzhan Tatishev died on a hunting trip whilst driving an SUV in the Zhambyl Region. At the car's wheel pursuing prey across the steppe, Tatishev handed a 12-gauge shotgun to Tokmadi, who was sitting beside him. According to the defense, the SUV suddenly hit a bump, and the gun fired accidentally, with Tatishev receiving a gunshot wound to the head, the bullet passing through his left eye. At the time, the killing was ruled to be an “accident,” with Tokmadi sentenced to one and a half years for manslaughter. One of the witnesses to the incident was the banker's security guard, Sergei Kozlikin, who swiftly fled Kazakhstan, saying he feared for his life. In 2017, the case was reopened, and Tokmadi was charged with extortion and the illegal possession of firearms. In his 2018 testimony, Tokmadi stated that he was fulfilling an order from fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, who was the co-owner of BTA Bank at the time. “Each time I met [Ablyazov] he argued that Yerzhan could not at any instant keep or sustain his word," Tokmadi testified. "He proposed to deal with the problem through the physical elimination of Yerzhan. This would happen during a hunting trip and look like an accidental death. And so it happened.” Some of the documents relating to the investigation - which...

transboundary water Hydro power Energy Central Asia Security Strategy Irrigation

Uzbekistan to Supply Extra Water to Kazakhstan for Irrigation

Kazinform has reported that following a meeting in Astana between Kazakh Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Nurzhan Nurjigitov, and Uzbek Minister of Water Management Shavkat Hamroev, Uzbekistan is to provide Kazakhstan with an additional 500 million cubic meters of water until the end of the irrigation season. Since April 1, Uzbekistan has supplied more than 4 billion cubic meters of water to Kazakhstan through the Syr Darya. It had been previously agreed that Uzbekistan would provide Kazakhstan with 3.7 billion cubic meters of water within six months but the Uzbek side fulfilled its obligation in just 4 months. The report states that the key goal was to fully satisfy the demand for irrigation water from farmers of Kazakhstan's southern regions and today, the Shardara Reservoir holds 1.5 billion cubic meters of water, almost 500 million more than last year. A total of 4 billion cubic meters of water entered the Shardara reservoir. Commenting on the success of the project, the official representative of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan, Moldir Abdualieva stated, “Due to the preliminary agreement with our neighbors on the working order of the Toktogul and Bahri-Tajik reservoirs, water regularly flows to the Kazakh part of the Dostlik interstate canal. Now, 90 cubic meters of water per second comes to the country through this channel. This is enough to fully supply the farmers of the Turkestan region with irrigation water,”