DUSHANBE, June 25, 2011, Asia-Plus — the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe says that during the week of June 26 – July 2, 2011, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) William R. Brownfield will visit Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Russia to preview the Central Asia Counternarcotics Initiative (CACI), a new initiative to improve the ability of Central Asian countries, in coordination with counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan, to disrupt drug trafficking originating from Afghanistan and dismantle related criminal organizations.
From June 27 – 30, he will meet with host government officials in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan to discuss regional cooperation and the potential establishment of vetted investigative units/task forces that will increase institutional capacity building through effective investigation, prosecution, and conviction of mid- to high-level traffickers.
An important stop for Assistant Secretary Brownfield be at the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center (CARICC) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to discuss CARICC’s role in promoting regional law enforcement cooperation and intelligence-sharing in the fight against drug trafficking and how best to coordinate with the work of counternarcotics units in Afghanistan. He will also visit the State Drug Control Service of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek and the Tajikistan Drug Control Agency in Dushanbe to discuss current collaboration and the potential role of those agencies in the Initiative. The Assistant Secretary will also visit the Tajik-Afghan border to dedicate a completed barracks facility at the Border Guard Detachment in Shouroobod and a reconstructed Border Outpost at Yakhchi Pun. The INL-funded facilities will help Tajik border guards in their fight on the front lines to reduce the flow of illegal narcotics and enhance the overall security of Tajikistan”s border with Afghanistan. At the conclusion of his trip, Assistant Secretary Brownfield will visit Moscow to meet with Government of the Russian Federation officials to consult on counternarcotics strategies in Central Asia and discuss how the U.S. and Russia can effectively cooperate to combat narcotics in the region, including through regional and multilateral organizations.
