MOSCOW. Feb 3 (Interfax) - The United States and its allies should adjust their strategy in Afghanistan and start fighting heroin producers, the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) said.
"They are well aware of the threat coming from drugs but they have not worked out a strategy that would allow them to deal with this threat appropriately," FSKN First Deputy Director Vladimir Kalanda said on Ekho Moskvy radio on Wednesday.
Russian special services were alarmed by reports that the United States' new strategy in Afghanistan actually excludes the fight against drug plantations, Kalanda said. "This is something we do not understand. The previous strategy envisioned the destruction of opium poppy plantations," he said.
"No efforts to fight the Taliban or al-Qaeda in Afghanistan will be effective without an effective fight against drug manufacturers," he also said.
The U.S. has not supported the Russian proposal to qualify Afghan drug trafficking as a threat to peace and security, he said. The idea of adjusting the mandate of the international security assistance force in Afghanistan and encouraging them to fight drugs has not "received a positive response," either. The Russian-American dialogue on ways to combat drug trafficking has become more intensive since the arrival of the new American administration, he said. "Certain progress has been made. For us, it is easier to deal with the Obama administration," he said.