Summary - As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev prepares to make an appearance at the NATO summit taking place November 19-20, Russian officials are pushing for the Alliance to demonstrate a greater spirit of cooperation with Moscow in combating drug production in Afghanistan.
Analysis
In Lisbon, Medvedev is widely expected to press Western
leaders for closer NATO cooperation with a Moscow-led security group, the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The CSTO is a central element
in Moscow's efforts to contain narcotics production and trafficking in
Afghanistan, as highlighted by a program called "Operation Channel."
In an interview with EurasiaNet.org, the head of Russia's
drug-control agency, Victor Ivanov, described Operation Channel as a
"preventive operation that allows a number of agencies on the territory of
the operation to update their activities by enhancing their exchange of
information."
The initiative "involves the customs and border
agencies and the police of a number of countries," including observers
from the United States and other NATO members, Ivanov added. Participating
nations have become engaged in a "more intensive exchange of data"
that is helping "to track drug trafficking channels and rapidly apply our capabilities
to eliminate them."
The October 28 counter-narcotics operation, in which
Russian forces joined US and Afghan troops, offered tangible evidence of
expanding US-Russian cooperation. And on November 15, Ivanov said the United
States and Russia have plans to conduct more joint operations in Afghanistan in
the future, according to the official RIA Novosti news agency.
Despite this, Russian officials have for years expressed
frustration that NATO, which has led the UN-mandated International Security
Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) since 2003, appears unenthusiastic about
cooperating with Moscow on the Afghan narcotics issue. Afghanistan is the chief
source of narcotics for Russia's estimated 2.5 million heroin addicts.
A central element of Russia's over-arching anti-drug
strategy in Afghanistan, dubbed Rainbow 2, is a large-scale poppy eradication
program, which would have to be carried out by the Afghan government. In
addition, the Rainbow 2 plan wants the United Nations to declare Afghan drug
production to be a threat to international peace and security, and place large
landlords who cultivate poppy on the UN sanctions list. Such punitive measures
would be supported by generously funded job-creation and infrastructure
development programs, as well as expanded training for Afghan counter-narcotics
officers.
In early November, Ivanov promoted the Rainbow 2 concept
at a meeting of the Council of Europe's Pompidou Counter-Narcotics Group, which
includes senior drug control officials from 35 countries. Central Asian
officials provided strong public support for Rainbow 2.
But the approach continues to meet resistance from NATO
commanders, who fear that a forceful poppy eradication effort, including aerial
spraying, would merely help swell the Taliban's ranks by depriving tens of
thousands of small poppy farmers of their main source of income. In addition,
commanders fear that the Taliban would score propaganda points by accusing NATO
of poisoning Afghanistan's crops, water, livestock and its people through the
use of herbicides.
NATO commanders have likewise been leery of diverting
scarce tactical resources to the destruction of narcotics laboratories.
Instead, they have focused their anti-drug efforts on interdicting the movement
of narcotics and drug money, activities normally conducted by large dealers
rather than the small farmers that NATO hopes to win over to its side.
Given the continuing NATO misgivings, Ivanov has worked
hard in recent months to cultivate the support of Central Asian members of the
CSTO. "We work closely and know each other well." Ivanov said about
his Central Asian colleagues. "We deal not only with the leaders of
agencies, but also with the operational staff at the working level."
Ivanov cast Central Asian states as transit countries for
narcotics, not an area where drug production occurs. "You know, there is
practically no opium production in Central Asia. There may be laboratories
there, but I do not think that there are many." Ivanov said. "In
Afghanistan, today so much heroin is produced that it is unprofitable to
manufacture it on the territory of Central Asia." He explained that
dealers can more profitably make narcotics in Afghanistan and then transport
them to Central Asian dealers.
Ivanov also stressed the importance of expanding
counter-narcotics cooperation in the Caspian Basin, including Azerbaijan, Iran
and Turkmenistan. "The Caspian Sea is used to transport [Afghan] drugs to
Azerbaijan, Russia and from Iran in various directions" Ivanov said. He
added that Russian experts "believe that approximately 20 percent of
Afghan narcotics pass through the territory of the countries neighboring the
Caspian Basin."
Seeking greater influence in regional affairs, the CSTO
has sought to establish cooperation programs with NATO. The Atlantic Alliance
has resisted dealing with the CSTO and has instead focused on developing
bilateral relationships with Russia and other members of the organization.
Russia now would like the CSTO to be, in effect, treated
as NATO's equal. To increase the pressure on NATO to alter its stance on the
CSTO, Russian diplomats, including UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, have increased
their criticism of the ineffectiveness of the Atlantic Alliance's
counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan.