DUSHANBE, May 18, Asia-Plus /Nargis Hamroboyeva/ — International antiterrorist coalition intends to provide assistance to Afghanistan in training of its border officers, Air Vice-Marshal Michael Heath, Special Adviser to the Commander of U.S. Central Command on Counter Narcotics, remarked at a briefing in Dushanbe on May 17 following the international conference on countering regional drug trafficking.
“In the region, there are many good initiatives on resolving the drug problems,” he noted, terming the UNODC projects as an example.
“It will be long battle but finally we will prevail in resolving the problem of smuggling of drugs from Afghanistan through routes to the Western countries,” the U.S. general said, stressing once again that it was problem of not only Afghanistan but of the whole region and international community as a whole.
At the same time, Mr. Heath did not answer the question of journalists about an amount of drugs seized by the international collation in Afghanistan over the five years of its presence in that country. “I am not competent in this issue,” he said. He also did not say about concrete results of the conference, just noting that “the meeting was fruitful.”
Next meeting on countering regional drug trafficking is supposed to be held in the Kazakh city of Almaty next year.
