Afghan forces also were involved in the raid on four
laboratories near the Pakistan border, a US Embassy spokesperson said on
customary condition of anonymity.
“This operation significantly damaged heroin manufacturing
capabilities ... and at the same time demonstrated the will of the Afghan
nation and those allies who are impacted by drug trafficking to take necessary
steps to bring stability to the country,” the spokesperson said in e-mailed
comments. “This was a very significant operation which could not have been done
by one nation alone.”
Russian anti-narcotics chief Viktor Ivanov said his agency
cooperated closely with the US counterparts to organize the bust, which ended
Thursday and destroyed 932 kilograms of heroin and 156 kilograms of opium worth
an estimated $250 million.
Ivanov said in televised comments that 70 men, including US
and Afghan security personnel and four Russian drug agents, took part in the
raid backed by nine US helicopters in Nangarhar province.
Ivanov said that his agency provided the US with information
on the location of the labs hidden in the mountains near the border with
Pakistan. He said the drugs and equipment to produce them were destroyed. He
didn't report any casualties.
He said Russia may increase the number of its drug-agents in
Afghanistan in the future.
The raid came after Ivanov and other Russian officials
repeatedly criticized the United States of doing little to stem a flow of
Afghan heroin into Russia that now has 2 million opium and heroin addicts.
Ivanov told The Associated Press in an interview last
weekend that months ago he provided US officials in Kabul with the coordinates
of 175 laboratories where heroin is processed but the US failed to act.
He said on a trip to Washington that US Drug Enforcement
Agency officials there have told him they are awaiting US military approval to
take down the labs.
US officials have argued in the past that destruction of
poppy fields would drive Afghan farmers into the arms of the Taleban.
Leaders of the Cold War foes hail Afghanistan as a place of
cooperation, with both countries concerned with wiping out terrorism and
choking drug supply routes.
But that cooperation until now has mostly been limited to
Russia providing its territory for US military transit. The US and NATO have
pushed Russia to provide helicopters and training for pilots as a contribution
to the Afghan war effort, and also to train counter-narcotics police.
Mikhail Margelov, the Kremlin-connected head of the foreign
affairs committee in the upper house of Russian parliament, hailed the drug
bust, saying Friday that it showed that efforts to reset US-Russian relations
are now being backed by real action.
