By Austin American Statesman Editorial Board

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul and his colleague, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, are anything but dewy-eyed innocents when it comes to the flow of drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nor are they naïve enough to think that jutted U.S. jaws will do much to stop the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States. To stem this flow will take more than a rhetorical salad of tough talk mixed with complaints about the Mexican government’s inability to rein in the cartels and the violence they spawn.

To put a dent in the Mexican drug trade, the federal governments on both sides of the Rio Grande will need to cooperate more than they have in the past and commit money to the effort.

After a visit to Mexico, McCaul, R-Austin, and Cuellar, D-Laredo, are promoting $1.5 billion in aid to help fight Mexico’s increasingly aggressive war on drugs.

Since taking office in January 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has put increasing pressure on his country’s warring drug cartels. Though arrests and seizures have increased dramatically, there obviously is more to be done. The struggle among the cartels for access to the U.S. markets has erupted in bloodshed at various points along the U.S.-Mexico border, most notably Nuevo Laredo.

Calderón’s commitment of federal troops to the border areas has met considerable criticism in his country, but the Mexican president shows no signs of bending to it. McCaul and Cuellar came away from a recent meeting with Calderón impressed with his commitment to the fight.

They were impressed enough to propose support for the aid package that faces an uncertain future in the House. Both Cuellar and McCaul say the money will go to surveillance technology, equipment, aircraft and training. There is also money for treatment programs on this side of the border.

Attached to the proposed aid package are performance measures. The Mexicans will also commit troops and money in the effort to erode the power of the cartels, which menace both sides of the border.

There are those who question whether the drug war is winnable and advocate a wholesale legalization of narcotics that are now illegal, but it will be a long time - if ever - before that notion takes hold. As long as the approach to drug trafficking is centered on law enforcement, Cuellar and McCaul are right: Neither the Mexican nor the American government can go it alone.

The drug trafficking is a binational problem that is going to require binational cooperation to arrive at a solution.

McCaul’s and Cuellar’s proposal to help Mexico train and equip its troops has merit and our support.