Aral Sea Bank's restoration projects, especially in the North Aral, were giving rise to some unexpected, tentative relief in what had been an extremely pessimistic picture. The future of the Aral Sea and the responsibility for its survival are now in the hands of the five countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. In 1994, they adopted the Aral Sea Basin Programmme. The Programme's four objectives are: The first phase of the plan effectively began with the first involvement from the World Bank in 1992, and was in operation until 1997. It was ineffectual for a number of reasons, but mainly because
Terrorism and counter-terrorism in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan. HRW opposes the Kazakh government's extradition of Muslims to China because they may be sentenced to death. Yury Baluyevsky, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the Russian General Staff, gave a speech to the chiefs of general staffs of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine in February 2006 prior to the fifteenth anniversary of the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He called on them to cooperate in fighting against "terrorism, cross-border crime and the drug mafia." The governments of Georgia, Moldova and Turkmenistan chose to not send representatives to the meeting. At the