News
Release
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2004
Contact: DEA Public Affairs
202-307-7977
DEA to Play Key Role in New Heroin Interdiction
Program for Afghanistan
Today, the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) joined with coalition partners, the
State Department,
and the Department of Defense (DOD),
in announcing its involvement in the U.S. Embassy Kabul Counternarcotics
Implementation Plan. This Five Pillar Plan provides DEA opportunities
as never before to reduce heroin production in Afghanistan and contribute
to the stabilization and rebuilding of this war-torn country. Afghanistan
is the world’s leading opium producer.
Under the “Interdiction Pillar,” DEA will assist with the
goal of destroying clandestine labs and seizing precursor chemicals,
opium, and opiate stockpiles. To achieve that, DEA is expanding its presence
in Afghanistan by permanently stationing additional Special Agents and
Intelligence Analysts to enhance that country’s counternarcotics
capacity.
Further, by early next year, DEA will deploy FAST teams (Foreign Advisory
and Support Teams) to Afghanistan to provide guidance and conduct bilateral
investigations that will identify, target, and disrupt illicit drug trafficking
organizations. These teams are supported and largely funded by DOD and
will also help with the destruction of existing opium storage sites,
clandestine heroin processing labs, and precursor chemical supplies.
Under the Five Pillar
Plan, DEA will also continue lending its expertise by providing drug
enforcement
training to our counterparts in the Counternarcotics
Police Afghanistan (CNPA). This effort will build Afghanistan’s
institutions of justice and strengthen internal counternarcotics capabilities.
DEA’s participation in the Five Pillar Plan is an expansion of
the DEA-led Operation Containment, in which the agency is working with
19 countries from Central Asia, the Caucuses, Europe, and Russia for
the first time to choke off the flow of drugs and precursor chemicals
into and out of Afghanistan before they can spread to broader markets.
This strategy has been enormously successful: Prior to Operation Containment,
in 2002, only 407 kilograms of heroin were seized. During the first 9
months of 2004, seizures under Operation Containment had skyrocketed
to 14,932 kilos of heroin.
In September, partnering countries held a strategic planning meeting
in Turkey to support bilateral, regional, and multilateral law enforcement
initiatives that clearly focus international efforts against the most
significant heroin trafficking organizations in the region.
Administrator Karen
P. Tandy stated, “The tremendous successes
we’re enjoying regionally gives hope that this Five Pillar Plan
can likewise be successful in combating the long entrenched opium trade
within Afghanistan. DEA is proud to be on the ground in this struggling
country to assist the Afghan people in their fight against the opium
and heroin warlords. With dedicated CNPA officers and the crucial assistance
of DOD, we are setting the stage for a more lawful and stable Afghanistan.”
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