Defence diplomacy has become a key instrument of India's Connect Central Asia outreach. Examine with reference to India–Kazakhstan military cooperation.

Defence diplomacy means using military ties to build political trust. It is now a visible part of India's Connect Central Asia outreach. With Kazakhstan, India's largest trade and investment partner in the region, it rests on the July 2015 Agreement on Defence and Military Technical Cooperation [1]. The annual exercise KAZIND carries it forward; its 9th edition began at Oskemen on 28 September 2026 [2].

Defence diplomacy as an instrument of outreach

• Institutionalised exercises: KAZIND has been held since 2016 [4]. It became bi-service at Otar in 2023, when the air forces of both countries joined for the first time [3].
• Counter-terrorism convergence: the drills practise CT operations in a sub-conventional setting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter [4]. A bilateral JWG on Counter-Terrorism and cooperation in SCO-RATS support them [1].
• Military modernisation: KAZIND-2026 adds UAS and counter-UAS, air mobility and Special Heliborne Operations [2].
• Peacekeeping partnership: since 2018, Kazakh troops have served under the Indian Battalion in UNIFIL, Lebanon. About 530 had served by July 2024 [1].
• Capacity-building: ITEC has trained 360 Kazakh personnel, and Indian instructors teach English at Kazakhstan's National Defence University [1].
• Strategic signalling: the ties strengthen cooperation in SCO and CICA. Kazakhstan also supports India's claim to a permanent UNSC seat [1].

Limitations

• Irregular calendar: no edition was held in 2025 (8th in 2024, 9th in 2026) [2][4]. In the same year, KHANJAR-XII with Kyrgyzstan [5] and DUSTLIK-VI with Uzbekistan [6] went ahead.
• Limited scale: company-level contingents (60 Indians in 2026) [2] build interoperability, not combat integration.
• Thin economic base: bilateral trade was only about US$1 bn in 2023. With no land access, India depends on routes such as Chabahar, which holds back defence-industrial ties [1].
• Drill–deployment gap: KAZIND practises raids and search-and-destroy [2], but the mission the two armies share, UNIFIL, is peacekeeping [1].

KAZIND is turning the 2009 Strategic Partnership [1] into operational trust, but its impact depends on consistency and a stronger economic base. The way forward:

• a fixed annual slot agreed through the JWG on Defence Cooperation;
• a peacekeeping module that mirrors UNIFIL;
• better connectivity through Chabahar and the India–Central Asia Summit [1].

These steps would make defence ties a lasting pillar of India's extended-neighbourhood policy.