Moscow Rallies Countries to Fight International Drug Trade

The current U.S. administration has inherited the mistakes of the previous one. Dmitri Medvedev appealed to the world to unite in fighting the international drug trade, not to allow double standards toward the drug-producing countries and not to politicize the issue. The Russian leader made this statement at the opening of the international forum “Drug Production in Afghanistan: A Challenge for the International Community.” Meanwhile, according to the U.N., Russia is the biggest consumer of Afghan heroin.

“Our common mission is to not allow the globalization of criminal channels; the lack of an effective fight against the drug business, as we know by experience, aggravates other problems, including, first of all, such a horrible one as terrorism,”* said Medvedev. He reminded participants that Afghan drugs are a threat not only for Afghanistan’s neighbors but also for Europe and North America. And the main at-risk group consists of young people under 30 years old.

Medvedev noted that there is currently a so-called “narco-state” in Afghanistan, and the country lacks resources to fight it on its own. He pointed out the necessity of removing the social factors that promote drug trafficking, first of all poverty and corruption.

According to the president, the entire world community should take responsibility for fighting drug trafficking, not just single states, no matter how powerful they are. At the same time, he emphasized that politicizing this issue should not be allowed, since it only undermines international efforts and get in the way of cooperation. The Russian leader said that states cannot be classified by the level of threat they present and overlook problems in one or another country when it is politically beneficial.

During his turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed directly to the fact that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) should pay more attention to destroying the poppy fields and drug labs. The minister also said that it is necessary to set up cooperation between ISAF and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that fights drug trafficking along Afghanistan’s borders. He complained that although CSTO has been talking about it for several years, there has been no response yet.

This correspondent managed to get some comments on the issue from several Russian and foreign participants of the forum. Dmitri Rogozin, Russian permanent representative to NATO, stated that solving a question of cooperation between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance has two levels. “First level is the Russia-NATO relationship. Second level is purely political. Americans, out of pure ideological considerations, do not take CSTO seriously. They think that it belongs in the area of some privileged Russian interests. It all comes to an ideological dead end that must be resolved.”*

Speaking about Russia-NATO relations, Rogozin suggested actively employing public diplomacy in order to convince public opinion in Western countries that the money from selling drugs, particularly in Russia, is used for training and equipping the militants who are fighting against international forces in Afghanistan. “We have to explain how dangerous it is to ignore the issue of Afghan heroin and influence the politicians in the West through public opinion,” stated Rogozin.

Hamid Godse, president of the International Narcotics Control Board affiliated with the U.N., supported Medvedev’s appeal not to politicize fighting the drug threat. He explained that in order to solve this problem in Afghanistan, it is extremely important to ensure the development of the country and to stabilize the situation, as instability fuels the drug trade and vice versa. “The Afghans are not able to deal with it themselves. We have to help them. It is a complex issue, and it calls for a complex solution. It is necessary to ensure the development of the country. Rural Afghans are very poor, and they become easy prey for militants and drug traffickers. It is also necessary to provide security and fight corruption in the administration. We need long-term programs because it is impossible to solve all these issues overnight,”* said Godse.

U.C. Berkeley Professor Peter Dale Scott told Nezavisimaya Gazeta (NG) that it’s impossible to solve the drug problem in Afghanistan without assuring the security in the region first. Simply increasing military efforts won’t achieve anything. “There has to be collaboration on the local level, among various forces in Afghanistan and international cooperation. At that, the U.S. will have to work with Iran, Russia, China, Pakistan and India,”* he added. Scott acknowledged that the fact that the current administration has inherited unsuccessful policies on a whole range of issues from the previous administration is disrupting the international fence-mending on Afghan issue. “The war on terrorism was a mistake. Including Iran in the Axis of Evil was even a bigger mistake. It’s very difficult for the U.S. to change its policies, but Obama’s administration has already taken steps in the right direction and the situation is gradually changing.”*

Toma Gomar, the director of the Center “Russia and New Independent States” of the French Institute of International Relations, noted that NATO forces in Afghanistan are dependent on the cargo transit through Russian territory, which is why NATO has to take Russian interests into consideration. “All countries share the urge to solve the problem of Afghan drug trafficking, but the problem is to reach an agreement on the conditions for cooperation,” said Gomar.

The NG interlocutor also said that fighting the Afghan drug threat will take a long time. “Drug trade is an important part of Afghan economy. It is very difficult to make the Afghanis give it up. The agriculture and the society need to be transformed. We have to act very carefully in order not to completely ruin the very vulnerable local economy.”

*Editor’s Note: These quotes, though accurately translated, could not be verified.