03 June 2004 10:23
Russian drug control service to open office in Afghanistan
Moscow, 3 June: Russian and Afghan agencies for combating drug trafficking have agreed that the Russian Federal
Service for Control over the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances [FSN] is to open an office in Kabul,
FSN Deputy Director Oleg Kharichkin told journalists on Thursday [3 June].
"We have secured the Afghan side's consent in principle, though it still too early to speak of specific
dates when our office will start its operation in Kabul," he said.
Kharichkin explained that the tasks of the FSN office in Afghanistan would include cooperation with competent bodies
in that country on a whole range of issues, excluding operational search measures, which Russian special services cannot
perform on the territory of another state.
Speaking of the drug trafficking situation in Afghanistan, Kharichkin said that the amount of drugs produced in that
country was expected to rise this year because of an increase in the area sown to opium poppy. Whereas last year the
sown area was 90,000 ha, this year it has increased to 120,000 ha, Kharichkin noted. The opium poppy harvest is
therefore expected to total 3,600 tonnes, he added.
Kharichkin said the issue of a possible withdrawal of Russian border guards from the Tajik-Afghan border had been
mentioned at an international conference on combating drugs which ended a few days ago in Dushanbe. "No-one is
talking of a single-step pullout of Russian border guards, what is being discussed is a gradual withdrawal as Tajikistan
becomes ready to guard its border," Kharichkin said.
He said illegal drug smuggling from Afghanistan would unfortunately continue to rise irrespective of whether Russian
border guards left, because Afghanistan's main problem was the absence of alternative sources of income for the
Afghan population in place of opium poppy cultivation.
"Measures suggested at the conference included introduction of cotton cultivation in Afghanistan in place of
opium poppy," the FSN official said.
[RIA news agency] |
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