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ARMENIA'S TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN AND ITS MULTI-VECTORED FOREIGN POLICY
by Joshua Kucera
EurasiaNet.org
May 27 2011
NY
Armenia's announcement this month that it was tripling its troop
commitment to Afghanistan raised some eyebrows. It has no NATO
aspirations, and has largely thrown in its strategic lot with Russia,
as evidenced by the agreement it recently signed allowing a large,
decades-long Russian military presence in the country.
But the newest trend in Eurasian geopolitics is multi-vectored
foreign policy (i.e., trying to balance relations between various big
powers rather than becoming dependent on a single one), pioneered
by Kazakhstan but now increasingly deliberately employed across
the region. And that means that even faithfully pro-Moscow states
like Armenia have to hedge their bets a little. Thus, Armenia's
contribution of two extra platoons (81 soldiers) to help guard the
airport in Mazar-e-Sharif, bringing its troop contribution to a total
of about 130. As Deputy Defense Minister David Tonoyan told Mediamax:
First of all, this step is based on Armenia's interests in accordance
with the multi-layer and initiative foreign policy of our country,
and demonstrates our particular place in the world order after the
"cold war".
And he played down suggestions that cooperating with NATO in
Afghanistan was somehow incompatible with Armenia's membership in
the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, emphasizing
the CSTO's cooperation with ISAF in Afghanistan:
Participation of the active CSTO member - Armenia - in ISAF Mission
strengthens our country's relations with the North-Atlantic Alliance
and EU member countries, and this is based on common interests of
both our country and the international community. These interests are
obvious, taking into account the assistance, rendered by CSTO-allied
and our strategic partner Russia to NATO in provision of transit
across its territory to Afghanistan for the transportation of and
resupply for Alliance troops.
The role of infrastructural and logistic support, provided by CSTO
member countries - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, is also
great in terms of ensuring ISAF Mission's success. In this context,
it is difficult to assess whose contribution from CSTO countries is of
more importance; however it is obvious that CSTO plays a significant
role in provision of security and stability in Afghanistan.
Emil Danielyan, writing in Jamestown's Eurasia Daily Monitor, says
that while the move is surprising, Russia isn't objecting too much --
probably because it understands that Armenia's commitment to NATO is
modest and does not threaten its ties with Moscow:
The Armenian government's decision was rather unexpected against the
backdrop of a new Russian-Armenian military agreement signed during
President Dmitry Medvedev's August 2010 visit to Yerevan. The agreement
prolonged the presence of a Russian military base in Armenia by 25
years-until 2044-and upgraded its security mission. It also committed
Russia to supply the Armenian military with more modern weaponry.
By boosting its military commitments in Afghanistan, Yerevan is
signaling that the new defense pact with Moscow will not hold it back
from seeking closer military cooperation with Western powers, which has
deepened significantly over the past decade. Armenia participated in
the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq with a small army contingent, and
currently has about 80 soldiers serving in Kosovo under NATO command...
Still, Moscow has never publicly faulted Yerevan, suggesting that
it does not yet consider the growing Armenia-NATO ties a cause for
serious concern. According to Anatoly Tsyganok, a Russian defense
analyst, the Kremlin "does not quite like" them but at the same time
"understands the difficult situation Armenia is in. Russia will not
insist that the Armenian armed forces stop cooperating with NATO,"
Tsyganok was quoted by Regnum as saying on May 13.
Furthermore, there are reasons beyond geopolitics for the deployment.
Forces that take part in missions like this gain valuable practical
experience, something that the CSTO can't really offer. Tonoyan again:
[I]n terms of experience exchange, due to participation of Armenian
military in ISAF, our units familiarize on the spot with Western
military art and military culture, employ in combat the most advanced
armament, military equipment and high technologies, supplied by the
German side, adopt new tactics. All this is of highest value in terms
of our defence reforms and development of the Armenian Armed Forces.
This is not only participation in multi-national operations, but also
an intensive training and education for our peacekeepers.
However, no comment yet from the Taliban, which responded strongly to
Kazakhstan's announced deployment, which turned out to be all of four
soldiers. Perhaps, as the first country ever to adopt Christianity,
the Taliban considers Armenia a lost cause.
by Joshua Kucera
EurasiaNet.org
May 27 2011
NY
Armenia's announcement this month that it was tripling its troop
commitment to Afghanistan raised some eyebrows. It has no NATO
aspirations, and has largely thrown in its strategic lot with Russia,
as evidenced by the agreement it recently signed allowing a large,
decades-long Russian military presence in the country.
But the newest trend in Eurasian geopolitics is multi-vectored
foreign policy (i.e., trying to balance relations between various big
powers rather than becoming dependent on a single one), pioneered
by Kazakhstan but now increasingly deliberately employed across
the region. And that means that even faithfully pro-Moscow states
like Armenia have to hedge their bets a little. Thus, Armenia's
contribution of two extra platoons (81 soldiers) to help guard the
airport in Mazar-e-Sharif, bringing its troop contribution to a total
of about 130. As Deputy Defense Minister David Tonoyan told Mediamax:
First of all, this step is based on Armenia's interests in accordance
with the multi-layer and initiative foreign policy of our country,
and demonstrates our particular place in the world order after the
"cold war".
And he played down suggestions that cooperating with NATO in
Afghanistan was somehow incompatible with Armenia's membership in
the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, emphasizing
the CSTO's cooperation with ISAF in Afghanistan:
Participation of the active CSTO member - Armenia - in ISAF Mission
strengthens our country's relations with the North-Atlantic Alliance
and EU member countries, and this is based on common interests of
both our country and the international community. These interests are
obvious, taking into account the assistance, rendered by CSTO-allied
and our strategic partner Russia to NATO in provision of transit
across its territory to Afghanistan for the transportation of and
resupply for Alliance troops.
The role of infrastructural and logistic support, provided by CSTO
member countries - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, is also
great in terms of ensuring ISAF Mission's success. In this context,
it is difficult to assess whose contribution from CSTO countries is of
more importance; however it is obvious that CSTO plays a significant
role in provision of security and stability in Afghanistan.
Emil Danielyan, writing in Jamestown's Eurasia Daily Monitor, says
that while the move is surprising, Russia isn't objecting too much --
probably because it understands that Armenia's commitment to NATO is
modest and does not threaten its ties with Moscow:
The Armenian government's decision was rather unexpected against the
backdrop of a new Russian-Armenian military agreement signed during
President Dmitry Medvedev's August 2010 visit to Yerevan. The agreement
prolonged the presence of a Russian military base in Armenia by 25
years-until 2044-and upgraded its security mission. It also committed
Russia to supply the Armenian military with more modern weaponry.
By boosting its military commitments in Afghanistan, Yerevan is
signaling that the new defense pact with Moscow will not hold it back
from seeking closer military cooperation with Western powers, which has
deepened significantly over the past decade. Armenia participated in
the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq with a small army contingent, and
currently has about 80 soldiers serving in Kosovo under NATO command...
Still, Moscow has never publicly faulted Yerevan, suggesting that
it does not yet consider the growing Armenia-NATO ties a cause for
serious concern. According to Anatoly Tsyganok, a Russian defense
analyst, the Kremlin "does not quite like" them but at the same time
"understands the difficult situation Armenia is in. Russia will not
insist that the Armenian armed forces stop cooperating with NATO,"
Tsyganok was quoted by Regnum as saying on May 13.
Furthermore, there are reasons beyond geopolitics for the deployment.
Forces that take part in missions like this gain valuable practical
experience, something that the CSTO can't really offer. Tonoyan again:
[I]n terms of experience exchange, due to participation of Armenian
military in ISAF, our units familiarize on the spot with Western
military art and military culture, employ in combat the most advanced
armament, military equipment and high technologies, supplied by the
German side, adopt new tactics. All this is of highest value in terms
of our defence reforms and development of the Armenian Armed Forces.
This is not only participation in multi-national operations, but also
an intensive training and education for our peacekeepers.
However, no comment yet from the Taliban, which responded strongly to
Kazakhstan's announced deployment, which turned out to be all of four
soldiers. Perhaps, as the first country ever to adopt Christianity,
the Taliban considers Armenia a lost cause.