Overview: The Government of Kazakhstan remained eager to increase counterterrorism cooperation with the United States, particularly in the areas of law enforcement and countering violent extremism (CVE). The Kazakhstani government is concerned about the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and by insecurity in Afghanistan. In June, Kazakhstan hosted a regional CVE conference in Astana and President Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke at the Leader's Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism hosted by President Obama in New York in September.

The Government of Kazakhstan views ISIL as a dangerous terrorist organization and appreciates Global Coalition to Counter ISIL efforts, but has not joined the Coalition. The Kazakhstani government does not have an official estimate of the number of Kazakhstanis that are fighting alongside ISIL. Media reports suggest that Kazakhstanis in Syria may fight with a host of armed groups, not just ISIL. Kazakhstani Security Council Secretary Nurlan Yermekbayev stated in July that 400 Kazakhstanis are fighting abroad, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan. National Security Committee (KNB) Chair Nurtai Abykaev publicly estimated in April that 350 Kazakhstanis are in Syria, but only 150 are fighting; the other 200 are family members.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Kazakhstan has a comprehensive counterterrorism legal framework which includes laws on countering extremism and terrorism, and relevant bylaws and chapters in the Criminal Code, Procedural Code, and the Law on National Security. It is illegal for Kazakhstani citizens to fight in foreign wars. The government has taken a two-pronged approach to the few returning ISIL fighters, pursuing a rehabilitation program while arresting and prosecuting others.

President Nazarbayev approved amendments to several laws on local policing aimed at creating a local police service more accountable to the local representative bodies and communities. Kazakhstani courts designated ISIL as a terrorist organization on October 15.

Kazakhstan's legal counterterrorism framework came under criticism in 2015 due to the arrest and prosecution of individuals and groups for committing offenses that would not be considered terrorism by international standards. For example, authorities arrested members of locally-banned religious groups, such as Tablighi Jamaat, which eschews violence.

The government's counterterrorism plan allows for enhanced domestic interagency cooperation, coordination, and information-sharing, but the extent to which this occurred in 2015 is unclear. In the past, law enforcement bodies were criticized for killing rather than capturing members of suspected terrorist groups, but during the years leading up to and including 2015, they showed a greater tendency to arrest, detain, and question these suspects. There are four special counterterrorism detachments under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and one under the KNB.

Law enforcement units demonstrated an increased capacity to detect, deter, and respond to terrorist incidents, and Kazakhstani security forces continued to participate in the Department of State's Antiterrorism Assistance program.

Kazakhstan's Border Guard Service (BGS) uses specialized passport control equipment at each passport control station, allowing officers to check for fraudulent documents. Every officer working at border crossing points must be a graduate of the BGS Academy's four-year program, where they study passport control using passport samples from around the world. BGS officers receive regular instructions and refresher training, including additional training by the Department of State's Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) Program. Additionally, the Department of State provided behavioral profiling training to identify traffickers and terrorists and K-9 training for counterterrorism operations.

In recent years, Kazakhstan has strengthened security on its southern border by adding radar systems, inspection equipment and vehicles, and specialized mobile inspection groups. To combat nuclear smuggling, EXBS supported training programs for Central Asian border guard cadets on how to prevent nuclear trafficking and terrorism, and initiated construction on a border crossing training facility for the Border Guard Service Academy in June.

Kazakhstani courts delivered numerous sentences in 2015 for promotion of extremism and terrorism, terrorist activities in Syria, and recruitment and plotting terrorist acts. The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) announced 280 cases involving extremism and terrorism in Kazakhstan in 2015. Most of those arrested were recruiters. Very few cases addressed intent to commit terrorist acts or depart for foreign conflict zones. In 2015, 71 people were convicted in terrorism-related cases, 13 were charged with participating in foreign armed conflicts. Media reports on detainment or conviction on such charges appeared more frequently in 2015.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Kazakhstan belongs to the Eurasian Group; a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. Kazakhstan's unregulated financial sector is relatively small. In 2015, Kazakhstan passed amendments to its laws on countering the financing of terrorism to comply with international standards. The amendments seek to ensure conformity with updated FATF money laundering requirements and the legal assessment made by the Eurasian Group for Countering Legalization of Criminal Proceeds and Terrorism Financing. With these amendments, Kazakhstan is now in compliance with more than half of the FATF requirements, and Parliament is working toward greater compliance. Despite these efforts, in November the Eurasian Group downgraded Kazakhstan to "enhanced monitoring procedures" for its non-compliance with criminalization of money laundering, requiring Kazakhstan to report biannually on its progress in improving procedures for anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Countering Violent Extremism: The Government of Kazakhstan's countering violent extremism (CVE) efforts focused on preventing radicalization, with efforts to educate and provide alternatives to youth through social programs and economic opportunities. Building on the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in February, Kazakhstan hosted a regional CVE Summit in Astana in June, where regional and international officials and subject matter experts discussed regional CVE challenges and opportunities for cooperation.

The Government of Kazakhstan focused its prevention efforts on detainment and prosecution of recruiters and proselytizers deemed by the government as sharing extremist ideas. Most convicted recruiters are placed in general regime penal colonies for three to six years. Human rights groups say the government exercises excessive vigilance in some cases. For example, one convict challenged his prison sentence claiming he was only discussing general religious topics online and sharing publicly available videos. The courts have blocked more than 700 websites for sharing extremist materials. In October, the website Vimeo was blocked by court order until the site removed videos that showed ISIL atrocities. Critics say Kazakhstan's anti-radicalization efforts are unnecessarily heavy-handed, and could actually encourage radicalization of members of otherwise peaceful religious groups.

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Culture and Sport conducted outreach to youth who studied abroad at religious schools suspected of indoctrinating youth in extremist ideology. Religious experts from the Committee for Religious Affairs reached out to at-risk youth via websites such as E-Islam, which was created to increase religious literacy and to counter radical ideas. Religious experts created groups on social networks such as Facebook and VKontakte, where they posted information and answered users'questions about religious extremism. Officials from the Committee for Religious Affairs provided training and awareness events for local imams, NGOs and media.

The government and NGOs continued rehabilitation and reintegration work with convicts and their relatives. The PGO claimed to have made progress in persuading convicted radicals to take less radical views.

International and Regional Cooperation: Kazakhstan participates in counterterrorism and CVE activities through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which has established a joint task force for preventing the propagation of terrorist and extremist ideas via the internet. Kazakhstan is a member of the Community of Independent States' (CIS) Anti-Terrorism Center that hosts a data bank of terrorist and extremist organizations banned in CIS that is made accessible to law enforcement and financial intelligence bodies of the member-states. The PGO cooperates with the OSCE on countering violent extremism and terrorism through joint workshops. Kazakhstan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which has a limited counterterrorism role. From September 2015 to September 2016, Kazakhstan chaired the SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure for coordination of joint antiterrorist exercises for its member states.

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