Astana, 21 October. The Security Council chaired by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev approved the Military Reform Plan: conscript service will be split into two six-month stages, the army will form Unmanned Systems Forces, and a commissioner for servicemen's affairs will be introduced to protect their rights.
The draft plan was presented by Aida Balayeva, Deputy Chair of the Security Council. She said it had been drawn up taking into account international experience of military development, modern methods of warfare and proposals from domestic specialists. It provides for revising the structure and composition of the Armed Forces, improving the command and defence planning system, creating Unmanned Systems Forces and strengthening key components of the army.
The main change for conscripts is a two-stage model of service. For the first six months recruits will train at training centres, and for the next six they will serve directly in military units, with the emphasis on combat training and performing tasks as part of a unit. As Tengrinews points out, the total length of service remains the same — 12 months: what changes is not the duration of service but the way a soldier is trained.
A separate part of the plan concerns safety in the service. Besides the commissioner for servicemen's affairs, an institution of military counsellors will be created, and separate measures are envisaged against hazing and to strengthen military discipline. Military-patriotic training will be brought together in a single system, Zhas Aibyn, based on the Adal Azamat concept; the network of specialised military schools will be expanded and initial military training improved.
Defence Minister Aidos Myrzakhmetov reported that the Armed Forces will adopt a new information and communication strategy and that educational work with personnel will be built on the constitutional principle of "Law and Order"; these measures are meant to strengthen discipline in the army and public trust in it. The plan's organisational measures are to be carried out by the end of 2026, and the main conceptual measures in 2027. The government and the Security Council will coordinate implementation.
At the meeting, Tokayev set the task of creating a modern, mobile and technologically advanced army in the shortest possible time. "The task has been set to change the quality of the Armed Forces," the president said, listing what this covers: command, training of servicemen, personnel policy, military education, defence planning and technological equipment. According to him, safety in the service, the culture of command and the efficient use of state resources require special attention, and the army's interaction with society also needs to change. "Half-measures will not produce the necessary result here," Tokayev said. He instructed that the work of the commission conducting a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Defence be completed by the end of the year, and called military security a nationwide task requiring coordinated work by all agencies.
What it means: The army is changing not the length of service but how it is organised: a conscript first trains for six months and only then joins a unit, and servicemen get a dedicated defender of their rights. The plan was approved a month after 14 servicemen died in the Caspian and the defence minister was replaced, and the president expects the results of the Defence Ministry audit by the end of the year.
Who benefits: First of all conscripts and their families: the plan promises six months of training before service in a unit, a commissioner for servicemen's affairs and measures against hazing. For the Defence Ministry, the reform means a review of the army's structure and an audit whose results must be in by the end of the year. Akorda's statements did not say how much the changes will cost.
Background: During exercises on 24 September on the Caspian coast 43 km from Aktau, 17 servicemen were swept away by a sea current while landing from the boat Kaisar in bad weather: three were rescued and 14 died. Three days later, on 27 September, Tokayev dismissed Defence Minister Dauren Kosanov, and Aidos Myrzakhmetov became minister.
List of sources used: Akorda, Tengrinews, BES.media, Ulysmedia
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
