http://wapo.st/ctw6Ry
By Joshua Partlow
Sunday, October 31, 2010
KABUL - The inclusion of a small number of Russian antinarcotics agents in a large drug raid here has touched a raw nerve among Afghan government officials, prompting President Hamid Karzai to condemn NATO for the raid and demand an investigation.
The seizure of $55.9 million worth of heroin - more than 2,000 pounds - and the discovery of four clandestine drug-producing labs in the eastern province of Nangahar was described by U.S. officials as a major success and a sign of international cooperation in the fight against narcotics. It was the first time Americans and Afghans had teamed with Russians on a military operation.
But senior Afghan officials, apparently unaware of the Russians' participation, reacted angrily to news reports of the raid.
"Whenever they want to take [the Russians], we should be aware of it," Interior Minister Besmillah Khan Mohammady said Saturday before a news conference on the matter in Kabul.
Karzai called the operation a violation of sovereignty, saying that "no institution has the right to conduct any such military operation inside our territory without the agreement of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."
The prospect of Russian participation in NATO military actions recalled the painful decade-long history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which ended in 1989.
In this Cold War battleground, the U.S. government armed and funded the Afghan mujaheddin guerrillas against the Soviets. Many of the mujahheddin commanders play prominent roles in Afghan politics today. The lore of their resistance to the Soviet superpower remains central to Afghan identity and also factors into the Taliban's rhetoric in the current war against the United States and its allies.
"Operation Tar Pit" was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, along with U.S. troops, Afghan counternarcotics police and the Russian anti-drug agents, according to a DEA statement Friday. In addition to the heroin, the team found more than 300 pounds of opium and drugmaking chemicals.
At the news conference, Baz Mohammad Amadi, the deputy head of counternarcotics in the Afghan Interior Ministry, said that no Russian military personnel were involved in the raid and that only two Russian antinarcotics experts accompanied the other forces as observers. Other news reports said four Russians took part.
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To U.S. and Russian officials, the raid signaled new cooperation and progress in the drug war.
Special correspondent Javed Hamdard contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/30/AR2010103003675.html
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