Counter-narcotics group completes inaugural meeting
The Central and South Asia Counter-Narcotics Security Working Group completed its inaugural meeting at a three-day conference sponsored by the George C. Marshall European Center in Garmisch Germany
(I-Newswire) - COUNTER-NARCOTICS WORKING GROUP WRAPS UP FIRST MEETING
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — November 18, 2005, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany –International cooperation in the long-term fight against drug trafficking dominated the inaugural meeting of the Central and South Asia Counter-Narcotics Security Working Group here this week. The three-day conference was sponsored by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and the U.S. Central Command, and included more than 70 representatives from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the U.S. State Department, the Germany Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO, the Drug Enforcement Agency and other agencies. The Central Command’s senior representative began the conference by noting the fight against illegal trafficking may take decades, but on-going problems and the ties between the narcotics trade and terrorism brought a sense of urgency to the meeting. “We are taking our first step on what I believe will be a very long road. I talk to people ( involved in counter-narcotics ) and they tell me counter-narcotics is a 50-year solution,” said Air Vice Marshall Michael Heath, Royal Air Force, Senior British Military Advisor to U.S. Central Command and Special Advisor to Commander on Counter-Narcotics. “But it’s nonetheless something we need to undertake and to move on. “There are undoubtedly long-standing barriers to our cooperation to achieve this. Forums like this will help us eradicate some of those barriers and get us talking together by asking us to seek common solutions.” Such solutions are needed because drug trafficking is a regional, even a global problem, Heath said. “The enemy we’re fighting is adaptable, cunning and obviously driven by enormous greed. He knows no national boundaries, indeed, he operates freely across all of your boundaries. This problem is, therefore…very much a regional issue. “No one is immune to the corruptive influence and the affects of illicit drugs as they move along that long road from production through to use. I just say simplistically that drug trafficking leads to increased crime, it leads to the increased risk of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, and perhaps it also leads to addicted populations along the way. But far more importantly, it undermines the very concept of legitimate government.” Keynote speaker Ambassador Nancy Powell, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, expanded on Heath’s theme to link narcotics trafficking with terrorism. Both, she said, flourish where government authority is weak. “Drug producers and traffickers rely on weak institutions and powerless populaces to ply their trade. Traffickers and producers typically seek to subvert government authority, to exploit weak criminal justice systems, to conduct their business, engage in financial fraud, counterfeiting, money-laundering and target innocent victims,” Powell said. “Corruption, which is an indispensable tool of criminals, undermines confidence in government, limits economic and democratic development, and weakens the capacity to contend with the terrorist threat. And, of course, criminal networks which traffic in narcotics may traffic in arms and weapons of mass destruction and move innocent women and children, or even terrorists.”
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George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Garmisch Germany Contact Ron Elliott or Joseph Ferrare Tel.: 08821-7502-882 or 08821-7502-543 or PAO@marshallcenter.org
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