BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia’s envoy to NATO is criticizing the alliance’s military strategy in Afghanistan — where the emphasis has shifted away from fighting drug trafficking — saying the resulting surge in heroin smuggling is endangering Russia’s national security.
Dmitry Rogozin says 30,000 people are dying every year in Russia from drugs imported from Afghanistan. He says this constitutes “an undeclared war against our country.”
For years, the U.S. tried to eradicate poppy crops, but that resulted in a boost to the insurgency as impoverished poppy farmers joined the Taliban. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s new policy of trying to win the support of the population means that these farmers are now left alone, enabling them to tend crops that produce 90 percent of the world’s heroin.
