NATO not cooperating sufficiently with Russia – CSTO head

DUSHANBE, March 27 (RIA Novosti)

NATO is not sufficiently cooperating with Russia in tackling the
Afghan drug threat, the head of the Russian-led Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) said on Saturday.

"The fight against drugs in Afghanistan and [drug] traffic is not
being carried out the way the situation demands, likewise there is no
planned and coordinated work against the Taliban movement," Nilolai
Bordyuzha said during a round-table conference in the Tajik capital,
Dushanbe, on collective security in Central Asia.

"We (CSTO leadership) have repeatedly told NATO: let’s tackle this
problem together because this is not a regional but a global threat,"
he complained, saying that NATO has so far been reluctant to do so.

Bordyuzha said the sooner NATO starts full cooperation with Russia,
"the sooner … we will set up an effective scheme to combat Afghan
drug trafficking."

The CSTO also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Russia’s security strategy until 2020 envisions the CSTO as "a key
mechanism to counter regional military challenges and threats."

Bordyuzha said that while the lack of Russia-NATO cooperation has also
created risks for Afghanistan’s neighbors in Central Asia as the
Taliban may mover further north, the CSTO would be ready for "such a
course of events," as the CSTO could handle a military conflict.

Russia’s drug control chief Viktor Ivanov said last week that Russia
would boost its drug control mission staff in Afghanistan as "the drug
situation in Russia is rather difficult, and needs fast decisions,
both in Russia and within the framework of international cooperation."

Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led
invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has been one of
the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply.
An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from
Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.