The threat of terrorism in Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in relations with the United States which in 2006 were at an all-time high. Kazakhstan has taken Uzbekistan's place as the favored partner in Central Asia for both Russia and the United States.China/Kazakhstan: Forces Hold First-Ever Joint Terrorism Exercises Uyghur American Association Kazakhstan's counter-terrorism efforts resulted in the country's 94th ranking among 130 countries in the 2016 Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace. The higher the position on the ranking is, the bigger the impact of terrorism in the country. Kazakhstan's 94th place puts it in a group of countries with the lowest impact of terrorism.
Banned terrorist organizations
On 12 October 2006 the Supreme Court approved a revised list of banned terrorist organizations and the Prosecutor General released the list. The terrorist organizations the government has banned are the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Islamic Front of Kazakhstan, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins, Islamic Party of Eastern Turkestan, Kurdistan Workers Party, Boz Kurt, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Social Reforms Society (in Kuwait), Asbat an-Ansar (in Israel), Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and the Muslim Brotherhood.Kazakhstan Updates List Of Banned Terrorist Groups RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty When the Supreme Court initially added the JCMA and six other organizations to its list in March 2006, critics said that the Muslim Brotherhood and Lashkar-e-Toiba do not operate in Kazakhstan on a level sufficient to justify inclusion in the list. Saulebek Zhamkenuly, press secretary for the Prosecutor-General's Office, said, "It doesn't mean all these organizations are active in Kazakhstan. The decision to ban them is a preventive measure. These organizations are considered as terrorist in the Russian Federation, the United States, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan."Kazakhstan: Government moves to add Hizb ut Tahrir to list of terror groups RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The Supreme Court added Aum Shinrikyo and the East Turkestan Liberation Organization to the list of banned terrorist organizations on 17 November 2006. Both organizations have members in Kazakhstan.Uyghur group added to Kazakh terror list RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Ties between designated terrorist organizations Hizb-ut-Tahrir is banned in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz government banned HuT after it declared a jihad against Kyrgyz police on 19 July 2006. Kyrgyz and Uzbek government officials say that there are ties between Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Islamic extremist group Akromiya.Central Asia: Tashkent And Bishkek Working To Combat 'Terrorism' RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty Kazakh Prosecutor-General Rashid Tusupbekov asked the Astana City Court to ban HuT because of its terrorist activities on 16 March 2005. Press secretary Zhamkenuly said it is "very probable that Hizb ut-Tahrir has connections with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other extremist groups. Therefore, under the Kazakh law banning extremism, we have every reason to outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities on Kazakh territory."
Aum Shinrikyo and East Turkestan Liberation Organization
Askar Amerkhanov, deputy chief of staff of Kazakhstan's counterterrorism center, asked the Prosecutor-General's Office and the Supreme Court to add Aum Shinrikyo and the East Turkestan Liberation Organization to the list of banned terrorist organizations on 15 September 2006. Amerkhanov said the National Security Committee (KNB) prevented an Aum Shinrikyo cell from forming in Kyzylorda.Kazakh security agency seeks ban on two 'terror' groups RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
The Supreme Court added both organizations to the list on 17 November 2006.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
From 28 March-1 April 2004 two suicide bombers set off bombs in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The bombings killed 47 people, 33 of whom were militants and 14 who were bystanders and policemen.Tashkent Terrorists. The al Qaeda allies behind the attacks National Review Online The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an organization affiliated with Al-Qaeda, and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. Uzbek President Islam Karimov claimed the perpetrators were ex-members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The Heritage Foundation
The Uzbek security service's intelligence, according to Pravda, proves the involvement of Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins members. Tashkent police found a mobile phone used by the terrorists at the site of one of the bombings. The police later found that the terrorists had called associates in Kazakhstan. Police from both nations agreed to work together in investigating the bombing.Tashkent blasts are blamed on Islamic radicals PravdaCentral Asia: Is Uzbekistan The Source Of Regional Extremism? Payvand
According to Tanya Costello, an analyst for Eurasia Group, the IMU has been nearly destroyed by the counter-terrorism efforts of the U.S., Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
While Al-Qaeda has never said it has a direct presence in Kazakhstan, journalists raised the issue in a press conference held in February 2004 following a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Kazakh Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev. The Government of Pakistan had recently arrested Abdallah Tohtasinovich Magrupov, a suspected terrorist of Kazakh ethnicity, and his citizenship was unclear. Altynbayev expressed skepticism over the presence of Al-Qaeda members, saying the situation is "seriously controlled by the special services."Secretary Rumsfeld Joint Availability with the Kazakh Minister of Defense U.S. Department of Defense
Hamas
The Union of Muslims of Kazakhstan invited Hamas leaders to Kazakhstan in 2006.Kazakhstan exacerbates "religious threat" by maneuvering between Beijing and Washington Jamestown Foundation
Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Hizb-ut-Tahrir first appeared in Kazakhstan in the south in the 1990s. Beibut Saparaly, a cleric at the Astana-based Kaganat religious education center, said in March 2005 that the "idea to create a caliphate is supported by many youth. Some years ago, we heard that Hizb ut-Tahrir had support in Shymkent and in Pavlodar. But lately, particularly after Qurban-Ayt, we learned that [Hizb ut-Tahrir] leaflets had been distributed in all mosques in the southern capital of Almaty." Kazakh police have arrested HuT members in southern Kazakhstan for several years, but the first arrests of members in northern Kazakhstan were in 2004. Novoye Pokoleniye has attributed the popularity of Hizb-ut-Tahrir to the social and economic conditions of the populace. One journalist wrote that illiteracy, poverty, and the "proximity of trouble spots allow various types of 'teachers' to act very freely there." Additionally, as "one head cell is cut off," it is "replaced by several new ones."Kazakhstan Journalists Gather Information on War Against Terrorism UCLA International Institute The Kazakh government found the first Hizb-ut-Tahrir cell in Kentai in 2000. The HuT presence in Kazakhstan then spread in the country, primarily in southern Kazakhstan.Terrorism and Nationalism: Twin threats to Kazakhstan Eurasia Daily Monitor Rashid Tusupbekov, the Prosecutor General, asked the Supreme Court to add Hizb ut-Tahrir to the list of banned terrorist organizations on 17 March 2005, citing its ties to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.Prosecutor General Requests Ban of Hizb-ut-Tahrir Embassy of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
Police arrested Kuanysh Bekzhanov, a 20-year-old student of law at the Humanitarian Institute, in November 2003 at Ordabasy square for distributing Hizb ut-Tahrir pamphlets. Upon a further search police uncovered 200 Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets. Judge Adis Kerimshiyev of the Shymkent municipal court found Bekzhanov guilty on 4 August of violating part 2 of Article 164 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, "agitation of social, ethnic, clan, racial, or religious animosity," and Article 337, "creation or participation in the activities of illegal public associations." The court sentenced him to two years in prison.Hizb-ut-Tahrir Member Sentenced 2 Years in South Kazakhstan Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the State of Israel
Bombings in Uzbekistan in the spring and summer of 2004 killed more than 50 people. The Uzbek government attributed the bombings to HuT terrorists. Suspects said they were trained at a terrorist camp in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh government denied the allegation, but said the defendants had at one point lived in the Shymkent Oblast, which they reached by illegally crossing the border.
On 5 February 2005 police in Kentai, Kazakhstan found Hizb-ut-Tahrir books and leaflets in the attic of a resident's home. The books were written in Uzbek, Russian, and Kazakh. Police charged the resident with distributing extremist literature and encouraging religious strife. According to Marat Yermukanov of Eurasia Daily Monitor, "reports say" the resident "bought these publications at the market... to distribute the teachings of Hizb-ut-Tahrir" in Kentai. Kentai is "fertile ground" for Hizb-ut-Tahrir because of the poor economy and the government's "indifference to their woes." Yermukanov said that most police raids targeted HuT cells.
Three days later, on 8 February, Almaty police shut down an HuT printing facility, taking 12,400 leaflets and 53 booklets from an apartment building.
Hibratulla Doskaliyev, head of the South Kazakhstan Region interior department, criticized the government's handling of Hizb ut-Tahrir's growing popularity in August 2006. Doskaliyev said, "This is a very serious issue and only 14 [officers] are dealing with it. This is totally insufficient." The department subsequently increased personnel monitoring Hizb ut-Tahrir activity.(Corr) Kazakh police boost planned over growing Hezb-e Tahrir influence in south BBC News
Beksultan Sarsenov, first deputy head of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center, said Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Uyghur nationalists were the greatest threats to Kazakhstan's security. Sarsenov said that a "small group" of religious bigots and nationalists "think the country is only for Kazakhs" and "nationalist Russians who are convinced that they have the right to certain part of Kazakhstan's territory" threaten Kazakhstan.
In December 2005 the KNB extradited Rustam Chagilov, a suspected terrorist, to Russia. KNB officials detained an ethnic Uzbek and alleged member of HuT in Taraz, South Kazakhstan in April 2006. The KNB accused him of organizing an HuT cell Qoqon, Uzbekistan and extradited him to Uzbekistan.
Kenzhenbulat Beknazarov, spokesman for the KNB announced on 22 December 2006 in Astana that an HuT cell-network active in multiple towns had been shut down. Beknazarov said, "Computers, more than 25,000 pamphlets, some 70 copies of religious extremist books and advanced printing equipment were confiscated during our searches." Routes used to smuggle in extremist literature and foreign funding were also shut down.Hizb ut-Tahrir network dismantled in Kazakhstan Interfax-Religion
Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins In 2004 National Security Committee (KNB) officials claimed they had shut down the Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahedins. However, in 2006, they again claimed to have foiled a terrorist plot orchestrated by JCAM members.Terror network claims unsettle Kazakh activists ISN Security Watch
2004