205 days ago
205 days ago
The organization said it suspended the program “based on a number of operational considerations,” but did not give a specific reason. The organization has sent more than 1,100 volunteers to Kazakhstan since it started operations there 18 years ago. The group's director says Peace Corps volunteers have created a lasting impact in schools, clinics, community centers and other places throughout the country.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan also declined to give an explanation for the withdrawal. But the announcement comes amid a string of terrorist attacks, including a rampage that killed seven people in the city of Taraz last week.
Kazakhstan is Central Asia's largest and most successful economy and had until this year been fairly untouched by Islamist violence witnessed elsewhere in the region. But the mainly Muslim nation of 17 million has seen an increase recently in small-scale bombings and shootouts blamed on Islamist extremists.
The country passed a new law this month banning religious gatherings in state institutions in an effort to stamp out religious extremism. Critics say the measure will only increase the militancy of such groups.
