Tokayev sets 10-day deadline for Kazakhstan’s military reform plan

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered the Defense Ministry and the Security Council Secretariat to draw up a military reform plan within 10 days.

Tokayev issued the order while introducing Aidos Myrzakhmetov as the country’s new defense minister at a meeting with senior Defense Ministry officials, Caliber.Az reports via the Kazakh presidential press service.

He called for the armed forces to be reformed to address modern threats and instructed the Security Council Secretariat and the Defense Ministry to work jointly on the reform plan.

The president described the reform as an “urgent task,” emphasizing the need to bring the armed forces up to modern standards.

“Our army has remained stuck in the last century. At the same time, the command system must be completely restructured in accordance with advanced international experience. A comprehensive approach is needed, and for that, we need a vision — and only competent officers with a broad outlook possess such a vision. The goal of the reform is to create a new-model army,” Tokayev emphasized.

According to the president, the new defense minister will have to tackle “extremely difficult tasks.”

“New approaches to the development of the army are required. Template solutions, ‘demonstration’ exercises and glossy reports are of no use to anyone,” Tokayev added.

By Jeyhun Aghazada