Terrorism threat in Kazakhstan could increase in 2014: Expert

Terrorism risks in Kazakhstan may increase, should the plan of American troops leaving Afghanistan in 2014 be implemented, Tengrinews.kz reports citing director of the Risks Assessment Group Dossym Satpayev as saying at the round-table meeting called Anti-Terrorist System of Kazakhstan. Diagnostics of Problems and Community Role. “A secret war against extremism and terrorism that has been fought in Kazakhstan in the past years has come to the surface this year. As the latest events reveal, neither central, nor local authorities are ready for terrorism; neither is the community,” he said. Satpayev pointed out that the fact that nobody in Kazakhstan knows the percentage of radical population of the country also imposes a certain threat. “The radical core part of Taliban movement have long been actively fighting against the international coalition. Among others there are people from Central Asia (in the fighting core), including many Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Uigurs and etc. As part of some of the scenarios part of them may come back to the region,” the political expert said. He noted that Kazakhstan needs an absolutely new anti-terrorist security system. It is necessary to perform preventive and explanatory work with the people. Satpayev called to discuss implementation of the anti-terrorist system: its elements, where to start and how to keep the balance between security and human rights. Several terrorist attacks happened in Kazakhstan in 2011 (Aktobe, Atyrau, Taraz) claiming human lives. Participants of the round-table meeting called military forces and authorities to take this disturbing trend seriously. By Roza Yessenkulova