ASTANA – The Kazakh Defense Ministry emphasized the country’s interest in obtaining additional quotas for peacekeepers and expanding its participation in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations at the UN peacekeeping ministerial meeting on Dec. 5, reported the ministry’s press service.
Photo credit: the Kazakh Defense Ministry’s press service.
The biennial event allowed foreign defense ministers to review the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping activities and the results of implementing the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative.
“The peacekeeping capability system has declared specialized units that meet operational needs. These include a military field hospital, police detachment, engineering, and reconnaissance units,” said Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Sultan Kamaletdinov.
Since 2007, more than 500 Kazakh servicemen have participated in the UN missions in Nepal, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast, and Lebanon.
From 1992 to 2001, over 9,000 military personnel of Kazakhstan’s Armed Forces protected the external border of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Tajik-Afghan land area.
Nearly 300 Kazakh sappers of the Kazbat peacekeeping battalion also carried out a mission in Iraq related to demining operations from August 2003 to October 2008.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed in March 2018 that A4P set principles and commitments to strengthen peacekeeping.
Due to the A4P initiative, the Declaration of Shared Commitments has reached over 150 endorsements and provides a shared roadmap for participating states.
