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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (38437)	2/25/2004 4:51:47 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

While I haven't read the book amazon.com I do see some of the "moves". U.S. Will Help With Kazakhstan Security By JOHN J. LUMPKIN Associated Press Writer ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) - The U.S. government is helping Kazakhstan protect its interests in the oil-rich Caspian Sea, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday in the Kazakh capital. The assistance is expected to include training and equipment, possibly including radars and other surveillance equipment to allow the military of the former Soviet republic to monitor its waters for smugglers, officials said. The support also serves to give the United States a regional ally with interests in the Caspian, providing a check on Iranian power in the southern part of the sea, U.S. officials said. ``The Caspian security in the western portion of Kazakhstan is important for this country, it is important to the world that the security be assured in that area,'' Rumsfeld said after talks with Kazakh Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev. Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus region of southwest Asia have become important partners for the United States over the past decade, not only in the war on terrorism but also in developing democracies in the region. In Washington, President Bush met Wednesday with Georgia's newly elected President Mikhail Saakashvili and told reporters he supports Georgia's demands for the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. ``We expect the Russian government to honor the Istanbul commitment,'' Bush said, referring to a 1999 accord on troop withdrawals. ``The Istanbul commitment made it very clear that Russia would leave those bases. We will continue to work with the president and (Russian) President Putin on that commitment.'' The Russians say the accord committed them only to discussing the troop withdrawal. In his talks in the Kazakh capital, Rumsfeld praised Kazakhstan as an ally in the war on terrorism, and held it up as an example of disarmament. When it broke from the Soviet Union, it inherited a vast stockpile of nuclear weapons, as well as chemical and biological devices. It voluntarily rid itself of them all, and was no longer a nuclear power by 1995. ``Kazakhstan sends an impressive model of how a country can do it,'' Rumsfeld said. ``Had Iraq followed the Kazakhstan model and disarmed the way Kazakhstan did, there would not have been a war.'' Rumsfeld also met with members of a platoon of 27 military engineers Kazakhstan sent to Iraq to assist in bomb-disposal and reconstruction efforts. That platoon returned home after a six-month deployment, and another unit is headed to Iraq. Kazakhstan is looking to build a force that can be deployed on U.N. peacekeeping missions, U.S. officials said. The two countries signed a five-year cooperation plan in September for the delivery of Huey helicopters, C-130 Hercules military cargo aircraft and ships for the Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea forces, the Kazakh Defense Ministry said. Under the plan, the United States will also supply equipment for Kazakh alpine troops and provide anti-terrorism training. Kazakhstan has already received 40 U.S. Humvees. Russia, Kazakhstan's northern neighbor and ally, is also expected to supply some weapons for those forces, U.S. officials said. Since 1992, Kazakhstan has also received about $200 million from the United States to withdraw Soviet nuclear weapons from its territory, clean up the aftermath of nuclear tests and shut down military facilities once used to produce weapons of mass destruction. Rumsfeld also met Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov and Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev. Rumsfeld arrived in Kazakhstan after a visit to neighboring Uzbekistan, following stops in Iraq and Kuwait. He was expected to travel Thursday to Afghanistan before returning to Washington. guardian.co.uk lurqer