ALMATY, April 7 (Reuters) – Kazakhstan will end the involvement of its forces in Iraq when its current contingent leaves in May, Defence Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev said on Wednesday.
“You know that the term of our second group is running out. We have therefore proposed that when the term ends there will be no further contingent sent to Iraq. Matters will end there,” Altynbayev said on Khabar television.
Kazakhstan has about 30 servicemen in Iraq, mostly engineers.
After all, they have an opposition of their own to harass:
US Ties Bolster Kazakhstan’s Soviet-Style Leader
by Jim Lobe
Six months before scheduled parliamentary elections, the U.S.-backed government in Kazakhstan is harassing the political opposition, and undermining prospects for a free and fair choice, according to a new report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).