Russian and U.S. drug control services have carried out their first joint anti-narcotics operation in Afghanistan, destroying drugs supplies worth more than $1 billion, the head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Service said on Friday, RIa Novosti reported.
The operation, during which almost 1 metric ton of heroin was destroyed, took place in a remote area near the Afghan border with Pakistan, Viktor Ivanov said during a news conference in Moscow with Deputy Head of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Russia Eric Rubin.
"As a result of this operation, four drug laboratories were eliminated. Three of them were heroin laboratories, and one was a morphine laboratory," Ivanov said.
Ivanov praised joint efforts by Russian and U.S. anti-drug services and said the effective work of a Russian-U.S. presidential commission in the sphere of drug trafficking was a good example of a "reset" in relations between the two countries.
Rubin also praised the results of the operation.
"This investigation is a very concrete example of real cooperation," he said. "We cannot succeed alone."
However, Ivanov also admitted that "drug infrastructure in Afghanistan is expanding."
He said the number of drug laboratories in the country has increased by almost 2.5 times in the past two years, from 175 in 2008 to 425 in 2010.
Earlier in the day, Ivanov told RIA Novosti "we have to acknowledge that the effectiveness of efforts to eliminate drug labs in Afghanistan is very low."
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has been one of the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply.
An estimated 90 percent of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.