US Policy toward the Kazakhstan - Term Paper Example

US Policy toward the Kazakhstan Kazakhstan which is known to be the heart of Central Asia played a very important role with respect to the world economy and politics. Both Kazakhstan and Central Asia present opportunities which are very complicated and dangerous for the major powers in the world. From the very beginning United States had brought down some set of objectives in Central Asia, and had stuck these ideas to Kazakhstan, for this reason Kazakhstan remained the heart of Central Asia forever (Legvold, 82). The first country to recognize Kazakhstan was United States and this recognition took place on December 25, 1991. Since then a very strong bond had developed between these two countries (Kazakhstan). The administrations of United States starting from George H.W Bush to Clinton had made strategic decisions to achieve their goals (Legvold, 67). U.S. Policy According to President Obama main motive of Kazakhstan is to make sure that the country is well developed and stabilization is maintained in political sphere of the nation. According to the administration, Kazakhstan has made remarkable progress, and this was possible as U.S. had supported them throughout and finally the country gained independence in the year 1991 and could achieve their goals. For FY2012, U.S. government had helped to strengthen Kazakhstan as a strategic partner. The Obama administration had helped in launching annual bilateral consultations on various financial and political issues with Kazakhstan. The first meeting took place in Washington, DC, in the month of March 2010 and the second meeting took place in Astana which is Kazakhstan’s capital. Here the meeting took place in late March 2011. President Nazarbayev, in the month of April 2010 met President Obama in U.S. at a nuclear security summit. The two leaders had decided to form a strong bond so that they could take strategic decisions in future. Also, their aim was to minimize various nuclear threats in Kazakhstan and across the world. President Obama has appreciated the fact that Kazakhstan had provided holistic and financial assistance to Afghanistan. Furthermore, U.S. President was glad that Kazakhstan had agreed and permitted U.S. cargo flights in order to support the Afghanistan mission. The two leaders also decided various other ways by which Kazakhstan would help Afghanistan expand their transportation network in the northern region. President Obama also decided to continuously support the efforts of the government of Kazakhstan and helped in liberalizing its media and smoothen its political system with the help of legal reforms. Furthermore keeping in mind Obama’s interest in Kazakhstan, a consulate general named Almaty was opened (Nichol, 12-13). Economic Development of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is one of the most financially developed nations of the Central Asian Republics. A major portion of the GDP is generated by two sectors that are Oil and Gas. Kazakhstan has been ranked sixth in the field of producing wheat, and it is also known to be the major exporter of wheat in the world. Around 33% of the population lies below the poverty line. President Nazarbayev had launched a plan to create a financially well developed, educated and self-sufficient country within 2030.Again in 2005 he proposed to bring Afghanistan within the top 50 developed countries of the world in the next ten years. He emphasized on restoring tax and budgetary policies and paid more attention to developing the manufacturing sector so that the GDP growth not solely depends on the Oil and Gas sectors. In the year 2010, President Nazarbayev proposed a five year plan to give a big push to the industrial sector, in order to reach their goal as planned for 2030 (Nichol, 7-8). The Kazakhstan Massacre December 16, 2011 could have been one of the most memorable days for the people of Afghanistan as the nation became independent on that very day. But inspite of being a day of celebration, it was transformed into a doom’s day. Due to the Kazakhstan Massacre, many people died and many of them were severely injured. Approximately 70 were dead and 500 to 800 people were wounded. The victims were the oil workers, who had protested due to the minimal wages provided to them (Ruff and Horn). U.S. -Kazakhstan Osce Task Force The task force was divided into two major working groups, one is in Washington, D.C and the other is in Kazakhstan. Both groups worked on a regular basis and kept contact with each other. The main motive of U.S.-Kazakhstan OSCE Task Force is to propose policy recommendations and to solve the various problems by conducting meetings on a specified regular interval. Also sometimes they take strategic decisions which will provide better solutions to their problems (U.S.- Kazakhstan OSCE Task Force). Sensitive Facilities of Kazakhstan Just after independence it was found that Kazakhstan has got the world’s largest nuclear arms and ammunitions. The most famous weapons were the 1400 nuclear missiles on ss-18 ICBMs which had remained in Kazakhstan when the Soviet Union got separated. Although there were other new states like Ukraine and Belarus and even they owned nuclear weapons, but the arms and ammunitions of Kazakhstan had grabbed particular international thought. Around 1994, most of Kazakhstan’s protection plants had stopped military production. According to some sources the military-industrial complex of Russia was in great danger and it was about to collapse. Kazakhstan had many sensitive nuclear facilities outside the test site. One of them is the 350 MW reactors in Aqtau. It can produce a huge amount of nuclear fuel such as Plutonium (Kazakhstan Special Weapons). U.S. Kazakhstan Relations Kazakhstan had showed some leadership quality when it brought into account nuclear weapons in the year 1993. The United States had helped Kazakhstan in many ways; it assisted Kazakhstan in developing the infrastructure and also in removing warheads and various other weapons. Kazakhstan transferred many weapons which contained uranium to United States in the year 1994. Then finally in 1995 Kazakhstan had detached its last nuclear warheads. Under a particular program named “The cooperative threat reduction”, United States had spent a huge bulk amount, round $240 million and helped Kazakhstan to remove weapons which are of mass destruction (Kazakhstan). U.S. Assistance During the years 1992-2005, United States had provided Kazakhstan $1.205 billion so that they could expand their technical innovations. The programs were designed in such a way so that it could help and promote market reforms. These programs included monetary and fiscal policies, privatization, laws, regulations and environmental protection. The commercial services of United States of America provide business internships for Kazakhstan and supports Kazakhstan’s businesses through various other programs. Since 2001 United States had helped Kazakhstan to stop illegal activities and trafficking in persons. The support of United States had provoked many citizens to participate in the public arena through various non-governmental organizations. Different grants have been provided to uplift the non-governmental organizations in areas of human rights, women’s right, good education etc. The United States had also provided special training courses for proficient workers and leaders (Kazakhstan). Geo-Strategic Dimension of Kazakhstan The world’s economy had always presumed that oil would be easily available at a very cheap price. However, current estimates say that a global crisis is going to occur soon due to the rising oil prices. Now, it is affirmed that there has been untapped oil resources in Kazakhstan, and also domestic consumption in Kazakhstan is low, on the other hand its export capacity is growing day by day. This is the main reason behind rivalry between Russia, China and United States. Evidently as Kazakhstan is surrounded by land and since it is located at the core of Central Asia, this has further motivated the rivalry (Geo-Strategic Dimension of Kazakhstan at the Eve of Global Peak Oil). Kazakhstan’s Balancing Act In the last few decades Kazakhstan has become the most developed country in Central Asia due to its rapid growth in the oil sector and also as it has adopted various foreign policies. President Nazarbayev has effectively maintained a balance between country’s varied array of interests and also helped in maintaining a prudent stability between Kazakhstan’s two most important global associates, they were Russia and United States. Even though Russia has a chronological and geological relative advantage, Kazakhstan’s relation with United States is noteworthy and developing day by day. President Nazarbayev has successfully balanced associations between Russia and United States by exporting oil to Russia at a very cheap rate and has become an essential part of Washington’s warfare. Kazakhstan has made a drive to attain actual independence from Russia and confirm its national individuality. Russia is Kazakhstan’s principal trading associate. The customs union connecting Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus officially came into survival in the month of January 2010 and by January 2012 it was anticipated to grow economically. Russia maintains control over joint trade between Kazakhstan and Belarus (Wagner and Costa). Authoritarian Regime Kazakhstan is observed as a demanding administration under which the President is the chief executive who is responsible for identifying the government and all other state officials. The charter of Kazakhstan in 1995 has helped a lot in increasing the power of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the current and the only President of Kazakhstan since 1991. The modifications of the constitution in the year 1997 had permitted President Nazarbayev to join the election procedure after the expiry of the third successive tenure in the year 2012. In an agreement with the Parliament, the tenure of President Nazarbayev was extended to seven years. During national elections, President Nazarbayev was highly influenced by the results and had always won benefits over the rivals (Minh Thu, 36). External Relations of Kazakhstan After the day of independence, the economy of Kazakhstan was comparatively small and even the infrastructure of Kazakhstan was in an underdeveloped stage. So, it is likely that Kazakhstan was in acute need of financial help from the foreign countries in order to improve its economic domain. If one considers the recent Soviet states, Kazakhstan stands second in regards to oil and gas sector. As an exporter of energy Kazakhstan is mostly concerned about the safety measures of demand and transportation. As a result in order to grab international investment and to maximize the country’s bulk of export, and also to strengthen its position in global field, the government of Kazakhstan for a very long time had stuck to a “multi-vector” foreign policies. The nation had officially declared Kazakh as the state language, for cultural communication it had taken into consideration the Russian language, and finally the nation had considered English as the language of amalgamation. This use of varied languages provide a device for Kazakhtan to strengthen and expand the country’s peripheral bonding with different other countries (Minh Thu, 41). Economic Reforms after the Independence Day of Kazakhstan Significant differences have been seen after the day of independence of Kazakhstan, mainly in economic and geological sphere of the nation. It has been observed that the northern, eastern and central zones were industrialized and it was conquered by Russia, while the Southern and Western zones were conquered by Kazakh and it was not urbanized. The allotment of mineral resources within the nation was not fair enough, and as a result the income inequality between different zones had widened. Specifically after independence, Kazakhstan had to face a problem due to over-dependence on Russia, as Russia would supply Oil and Gas. So, it can be concluded that economic reforms in Kazakhstan were applied to fulfill three major goals- to develop the nation’s economy, to maintain balance between the state budgets, and also to attract the foreign investors (Minh Thu, 43-44). Primary Goals of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Policy There were many primary goals of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. The nation aimed at protecting its interest. It has always tried to present optimistic conditions for economic and political growth of the nation. Also the country tried to develop intentional relation with other developed countries and regions of the world. The nation always tried to improve its bonding with global organizations. Another goal was to consolidate elected principles within the fresh world order. It has always contributed to international and domestic protection and tried to maintain stability. It stood against threats like terror campaign, drug trafficking, and well planned crimes. It always tried to promote human development and development of the society as well. Last but not the least, it tried to safeguard the environment and sustain economic development. Also the government took major decisions and implemented various policies relating to politics, economics, and independent economic reforms etc. It was extremely necessary to take these decisions in order to ease Kazakhstan’s transformation to the world society. This has also been beneficial to invent a foreign policy in peace with the international move towards liberalization. It has been pointed out that one of the major decision taken by Kazakhstan in the last decade was to become a state where there would be no nuclear war and would undertake policy without any explosion. Kazakhstan had developed optimistic relations with one hundred and forty countries and this has helped it to become an important constituent of sixty four global, political and economic associations. In the month of March, 1992 Kazakhstan was accommodated into the United Nations Organizations and it had played a very important role in its scheme for a decade. Furthermore it is said that there have been no wars or disagreements between Kazakhstan and other international nations till date (Foreign policy). Global Association It is to be noted that Kazakhstan had signed over thirteen hundred treaties and agreements with other countries and the nation has also established steady relation with Asian, European and other North American countries. Not only that, Kazakhstan has also maintained healthy cooperation with the chief regional associations of these countries. Again participating in zonal and international affairs and events is extremely important for consolidating Kazakhstan’s autonomy. Now the nation is busy in several global transitions which portrays the issue of its interdependence (Foreign policy). Regional Associations It is said that because of the growing importance of globalization and economic associations, Kazakhstan is going on developing regional alliances all over the world. Not only Kazakhstan but many countries believe that nation’s target can be achieved by increasing regional association. This is the only reason why Kazakhstan had taken a step forward to encourage regional financial association. For instance, the city of Astana has cooperated with “The Commonwealth of Independent States”, “Eurasian Economic Association”, “Central Asian Economic Association “and “Shanghai Cooperation Organization” (Foreign policy). Kazakhstan’s Standpoint on International Issues Kazakhstan considers warnings to regional and international harmony and that in order to maintain stability combined political determination and international endeavor is required. The threats mainly include areas of global nuclear war, racial, cultural and religious wars. Also there were humanitarian disaster, and due to inequality many people lie below poverty line. Furthermore there are unlawful migration and ecological calamity created by human beings. The main cause of these warnings is due to financial and political crisis and deprivation. So, in this situation complete conformity on combined mechanisms and apparatus is necessary to handle these threats or warnings (Foreign policy). Kazakhstan’s Commitment to Assist Afghanistan Kazakhstan had always put forth lots of efforts to improve Afghanistan in order to bring in harmony and financial development, and this again is significant to maintain long-term protection of Central Asia. During the last decade Kazakhstan had made important contribution to maintain stability in Afghanistan, so that the nation’s financial crisis reduces. It is to be noted that Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia which had adopted an assistance program in order to reconstruct Afghanistan. The nation also provided financial assistance to Afghanistan to re-establish their agricultural domain, improve their transportation system, and provide education facilities and build a hospital. The aid also included providing raw materials to construct bridges. Another important decision of the government of Kazakhstan was to educate the Afghan people in the University of Kazakhstan and train them in fields like healthcare, teaching, engineering, boundary control etc. Also the US strategy stated by President Barack Obama had helped in solving various Afghan problems. The way USA had helped Afghanistan will always be one of the most important topics of discussion (Foreign policy). Recent Development in Kazakhstan At the end of 2010, those people who have supported President Nazarbayev had formally requested to hold a referendum in order to extend its tenure in office till the month of December 2020. The United States and other international countries were not very happy about referendum. But, on the other hand the Kazakh government had readily accepted the referendum much before the formal request was proposed. The CEC that is the central electoral commission pointed out that 89.99% out of the million voters turned away and President Nazarbayev was again elected by acquiring a total vote of 95.55% (Nichol, 23). Kazakhstan’s Mutual Economic Relations with Russia Kazakhstan and Russia have always tried not to grab the attention of the public towards the problem in Economic relations. However the relationship between Kazakhstan and Russia is very complicated in number of fields. Here we will try to analyze the economic relation between Kazakhstan and Russia and focus mainly on the investment pattern and the trend in international trade. The relation between these two countries is mostly observed from the point of view of Kazakhstan, as there has not been sufficient research work done in global educational literature. If we think about Kazakhstan-Russian relation deeply in the field of investment activities, several factors should be taken into account. It is said that investment of Russia in Kazakhstan’s economy are graded on the basis of their capacity in descending array. The complex relation between Kazakhstan and Russia is due to several factors such as financial, political, religious and natural reserves. The security system of Central Asia should be strong enough, however this is not possible to maintain until and unless there is a strong connection between Kazakhstan and Russia (Zabortseva). Conclusion It seems like Kazakhstan will continue to maintain stable relationship with United States and will give importance to the efforts provided by United States and also the policies adopted. Kazakhstan also expects to have continuous friendship with Washington in order to benefit things like military assistance, training and continuous support for being a part of the World Trade Organization. However there are two arenas where Kazakh will not be willing to help. The first instance will occur if Kazakh is given an option to “choose sides” among Russia and United States and secondly, whether United States will be willing to support political liberalization. However in the first arena Kazakstan will not be willing to take steps which go against the relationship between Russia and China. None of the other international countries will be willing to take care of Kazakh’s interest, not even United States. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan shares many benefits with its neighboring countries, and found different ways to manage its anxieties about their extensive efforts to enhance pressure. Regarding the second arena, the problem crops up from a basic difference in agreement between the government of United States and Kazakhstan relating to which, approach and policies should be adopted to bring in harmony, protection and development of the nation in future (Oliker 71). It is observed that many policy makers of United States and also many analysts had seen oppression and constraints on political conflict and this in turn might lead to instability with respect to the political sphere. From the point of view of Kazakhstan’s headship, more the space for action the opponent will have, more is probability for the opponent to stimulate turmoil. In this situation, there is a tendency to observe secular and religious opponents in the same manner. REFERENCES Foreign policy, 2010, April 12, 2012 from: http://www.kazakhembus.com/index.php?page=foreign-policy Geo-Strategic Dimension of Kazakhstan at the Eve of Global Peak Oil, Turkish Weekly, 2007, April 12, 2012 from: http://www.turkishweekly.net/article/314/geo-strategic-dimension-of-kazakhstan-at-the-eve-of-global-peak-oil.html Kazakhstan Special Weapons, 2009, April 12, 2012 from: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/kazakhstan/ Kazakhstan, 2009, April 12, 2012 from: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5487.htm Legvold, Robert, Thinking Strategically: The Major Powers, Kazakhstan, and the Central Asian Nexus. Cambridge: MIT press, 2003. Print. Nichol, Jim, Kazakhstan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests, 2011, April 14, 2012 from: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/97-1058.pdf Nichol, Jim. Kazakhstan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests, 2011, April 14, 2012 from: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33458.pdf Oliker, Olga. Kazakhstan’s Security Interests and Their Implications for the U.S.- Kazakh Relationship, 2007, April 14, 2012 from: http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/CEF/Quarterly/May_2007/Oliker.pdf Ruff, Allen and Horn, Steve, The Kazakhstan Massacre: Killing Hope to Benefit US Geopolitical Interests, 2012, April 14, 2012 from: http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7128:the-kazakhstan-massacre-killing-hope-to-benefit-us-geopolitical-interests Pham, Minh Thu. Energy and Geopolitics American power projection towards Kazakhstan, 2010, April 14, 2012 from: http://www.iias.nl/epa/files/Pham%20Thu%20Energy%20and%20Geopolitics.pdf U.S.-Kazakhstan OSCE Task Force, 2010, April 14, 2012 from: http://csis.org/program/us-kazakhstan-osce-task-force Zabortseva, Yelena Nikolayeva. Kazakhstan’s bilateral economic relations with Russia: a robust partnership, 2010, April 14, 2012 from: http://www.paceprojects.co.uk/Zabortseva%20U%20%20of%20Sydney.pdf Wagner, Daniel and Luca Costa, Kazakhstan’s Balancing Act, Foreign Policy Journal, 2011, April 12, 2012 from: http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/06/15/kazakhstans-balancing-act/ Read More