The Diplomat: The Significance of Kazakhstan’s Growing Role in Peacekeeping Operations

"The Significance of Kazakhstan’s Growing Role in Peacekeeping Operations"
Wilder Alejandro Sanchez
The Diplomat
Crossroads Asia
1 March, 2019
Originally published: https://thediplomat.com/2019/03/the-significance-of-kazakhstans-growing-role-in-peacekeeping-operations/

The government of Kazakhstan has announced that Kazakh peacekeepers will be deployed to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by the end of April; the troops will replace the first-ever major contingent of Kazakh peacekeepers deployed this past October. This is an important development as the Central Asian state firmly joins the ranks of contributors to UN peace missions.
 
Kazakhstan has participated in UN peace missions for several years, but it has been at a very low scale. Until last year’s deployment to Lebanon, Kazakh participation exclusively consisted of a small number of either experts on mission or police officers, particularly to the UN mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The October 2018 arrival of 120 Kazakh troops to UNIFIL, thus, was the country’s first ever significant contingent of troops to UN missions. 

This growing role in UN peace operations is part of Astana’s objective to increase its international image. For example, Kazakhstan held one of the rotating seats of the UN Security Council in 2017-2018, the first Central Asian nation to do so. It held the UNSC’s rotating presidency in January 2018.

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