The third meeting of the Heads of Anti-drug agencies of Tajikistan, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan was conducted in Dushanbe.
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- Published on 28 September 2012
The head of the Ministry of Counter Narcotics of Afghanistan Zarar Ahmad Moqbeli Usmoni, the Secretary of the Anti-Narcotics Force of Pakistan Javid Iqbal,
the Director of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation Viktor Ivanov and the Director of Drug Control Agency Rustam Nazarov took part in the meeting. The first meeting of the Central Asian anti-drug quadruple was conducted on December 8, 2010 in Moscowunder the chairmanship of Viktor Ivanov, while the second meeting was conducted in 2011 inKabul.
During the meeting, each side has made a presentation on the drug situation in the country, as well as on the situation of cooperation with adequate country agencies of the “anti drug quartet”.
According to the head of the Ministry of Counter Narcotics of Afghanistan, Zarar Ahmad Moqbeli Usmoni, 95.7 percent of the drugs are planted in the regions of the country, where security is not ensured sufficiently. “We have to combat it and not to tolerate spreading of drugs all over Afghanistanand in the world market”, - has marked Usmoni.
In the presentation made by the Pakistani side, it was noted that 25 percent of drugs, according to their assessment, are transferred to Russia, and further, to Europe, through so-called “Silk Road”. Taking into account that according to the UNODC assessment, the general exchange of heroin production in Afghanistan is 360 metric tons, then, annually up to 80 tons should pass through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistanand, Tajikistan.
Mean while, the Director of the Drug Control Agency Rustam Nazarov has stated that the information provided by the UN on the drug situation through the Central Asian region does not coincide with the views of the Tajik side. “Sometimes, in their reports, they write the opposite, although we have significant achievements in countering narcotics,” noted Rustam Nazarov.
Viktor Ivanov, in his statement has criticized the activity of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF (an international military force, led by NATO and operating in Afghanistan since 2001)) in Afghanistan. “NATO does not perform a systematic work on destroying the infrastructure for the drug production in Afghanistan,” said Ivanov, in the meantime noting, that it is the drug production which is a real money-maker for extremists and terrorists, enabling them to be equipped by weapons and continue the armed resistance. “However, according to the assessment of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, unfortunately, NATO is not actively involved in destroying the infrastructure of the drug production,” has emphasized the Head of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation.
The participants of the meeting have approved the anti-drug “road map” for 2012-2017 collaboration, which involves four sections – drug-threat resistance, prevention of drug addiction, medical assistance for the drug addicted persons, and international cooperation on countering drug trafficking.
“The road map” envisages a conduction of joint operations on identifying and destroying drug labs, and the liquidation of criminal groups, and that not only on the south borders of the CIS. The Head of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation Viktor Ivanov has emphasized, that he counts on the cooperation with Islamabad. That is where the next meeting of the anti-drug quadruple will take place in 2013.
As a result of the meeting in Dushanbe the joint statement was signed.
