Humanitarian aid continues to be the primary engagement between the U.S. military and Belarus. In early 2004, the United States European Command announced the allocation of $200,000 for the continued renovation of the Gomel Emergency Treatment Hospital. The hospital had already received more than $600,000 in humanitarian assistance, which included funds for the renovation and establishment of its blood transfusion center in 2001. In addition, in May 2004, the U.S. military donated $95,000 for the renovation of the Turov regional hospital. These programs, coupled with the continuous flow of Humanitarian Excess Property from U.S. Cold War stocks, define the humanitarian assistance program.

Direct military to military cooperation continues to be minimal. Belarus currently has no International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, and bilateral exercises and cooperation are nonexistent. There is a great desire on the Belarusian side to re-establish such cooperation and contacts, but it has not been possible due to the political situation. The only program that is still functional within this category is the attendance of Belarusian military officers in George C. Marshall Center programs.

Potential areas of cooperation can be seen in the area of mine disposal, demining, and small arms destruction. Belarus possesses an unstable inventory of about 4.2 million anti-personnel mines, which require proper disposal. Officials have been working with foreign governments to acquire financial and technical support for these efforts but have met with little tangible success. In addition to this, there are numerous World War II-vintage minefields, which are still in place and kill or injure several Belarusians every year. The Belarusian Government would quickly accept assistance in either of these areas.

The Minister of Defense is experiencing success in the area of military reform. Planned changes include combining the Air and Air Defense Forces, downsizing the force structure about 30% from 83,000 to 60,000, transitioning from a conscript to a contract force, and modernizing the command and control structure by creating a Ground Forces Command between the Ministry of Defense and the units in the field. Implementation of these reforms will take an unspecified amount of time.

The area of greatest concern continues to be links between Belarus and states of concern through the sale of arms to, equipment services to, and the training of personnel from these states. Included in this category (but not limited to these examples) are the sales of weapons to Libya and Syria, along with reported weapons transfers, upgrades of equipment (S-300 system), and air defense training of service members of the former Iraqi regime.