The Day of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan is celebrated in the Republic annually on May 29. It was established by Decree of the Government of the Republic №347 of May 19, 1994 on the initiative of the Ministry of Defense of Kyrgyzstan. And the date was chosen due to the fact that on May 29, 1992, military units and institutions stationed in the country were accepted under the jurisdiction of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Having declared its independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan, as a sovereign state and a full member of the world community, began to create a national army.
The young state had no experience in creating a military organization. The necessary defense infrastructure was missing. The speedy creation of the Armed Forces was hampered by socio-economic factors, as well as a lack of qualified and trained officers.
The first step towards the creation of the Armed Forces was the issuance of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan dated January 13, 1992 on the formation of the State Committee of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan for Defense Affairs, headed by Major General Umetaliev Dzhanybek Asanbekovich.
On May 29, 1992, by Decree of the President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan «On the taking (acceptance) under the jurisdiction of military formations, units and institutions of the former Soviet Union stationed on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, the construction of the Armed Forces was initiated, as a fundamental basis for the national security of the state.
The adoption of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic on May 5, 1993 determined the basic principles of the state’s military policy, the construction and development of its Armed Forces. The Constitution stipulates that the Kyrgyz Republic does not have the goals of expansion, aggression and territorial claims, resolved by military force, and rejects the militarization of state life, the subordination of the state, and its activities to the tasks of waging war.
The armed forces are built in accordance with the principles of: self-defense and defensive sufficiency; unconditional compliance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, control of military structures by the highest government bodies; compliance of the organizational structure, combat and numerical strength with the tasks of ensuring military security and the economic capabilities of the state; ensuring the national security of the state, the ability to adequately increase combat power as the military threat increases, maintaining combat and mobilization readiness; compliance with international law and the use of peaceful experience in military development.
The main goal of military development in the Kyrgyz Republic is the creation of small, compact and mobile Armed Forces, equipped with modern weapons, military equipment, provided with material resources for conducting military operations in highlands, capable of quickly guaranteeing the protection of territorial integrity, constitutional order, sovereignty of the state and its citizens.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. He exercises leadership of the Armed Forces, appoints and replaces the high command. The unified control center of the Armed Forces is the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan.
The armed forces of the Kyrgyz Republic in peacetime and wartime consist of formations, units and subunits of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the State Committee for Defense Affairs (until 2016 — of the Ministry of Defense), the State Border Service (SBS), and the National Guard.