Drug Raid

Afghanistan produces 90% of the world's opium

Russia teamed up with the United States to destroy Afghan drugs laboratories. The raid occurred in Nangarhar Province (eastern Afghanistan) in which four opium refining laboratories and over 2,000 pounds of heroin were destroyed--worth $55.9 million. The joint operation was conducted by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Department of Defense, NATO, the Afghan Ministry of Interior, and the Russian Drug Control Agency. Of about 70 people taking part in the drug raid, only four were from Russia's Federal Counter Narcotics Service.

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of heroin and much of the drugs are sold in neighboring countries and Russia. 90 percent of Russia's heroin comes from Afghanistan. Russia's H.I.V. epidemic is growing faster than almost anywhere else in the world, killing thousands annually due to injected drugs. Russian officials have criticized the United States for not doing enough to stop the production of the drug in Afghanistan. Some have even suggested that the United States are behind the production and are encouraging the drug trade in an effort to weaken Russia. Afghanistan's opium production has been a major source of financing for the Taliban. This has been the reason why the Obama administration is hesistant about the eradication programs, fearing that farmers would turn to the Taliban for assistance.

"The goal is to identify, disrupt and deny material support to terrorism, and very specifically to the Taliban elements that are supporting this drug trade." --Eric Rubin, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow