Kazakhstan says Afghan Deployment is Non-combat

    By Robin Paxton
    Kazakhstan said on Friday it planned to send four non-combat officers to join NATO-led forces in Afghanistan. Kazakhstan, where 70 percent of the 16.4 million population are Muslim, will become the first former Soviet republic in Central Asia to send a contingent to join the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
    After the lower house of parliament ratified the bill last week, the Taliban warned Kazakhstan that its decision would have severe consequences.
    Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov, addressing a parliamentary committee, said the four-person contingent would be deployed in Kabul to help in United Nations-sanctioned efforts to stabilise the country as war enters its 10th year.
    "The main task of the four officers who are to be sent to Afghanistan is to assist the government in preparations for a peaceful life," said Kazykhanov, an English and Arabic speaker.
    "Our main efforts are focused on economic support to Afghanistan, on assistance in building roads, bridges, hospitals and the provision of humanitarian assistance to that country," he was quoted as saying in a Foreign Ministry statement.
    Kazakhstan, which is a major oil and metals exporter and has Central Asia's biggest economy, maintains cordial ties with giant neighbours Russia and China and has also attracted massive investment from the West.
    Though not a member of NATO, the vast nation has provided air and ground corridors for the delivery of supplies to Western troops in Afghanistan.
    Kazykhanov said Kazakh officers would not join the fighting in Afghanistan. "We also proceed from the fact that there is no military solution to the Afghan problem," he said.
    The bill to send Kazakh officers, already ratified by the lower house of parliament, will be considered by the Senate upper house. If approved, the president must signed it into law, Reuters said.