NATO, CSTO need to pool efforts for Afghan settlement's sake - Grushko
BRUSSELS. Dec 2 (Interfax) - Close cooperation between key regional players would be a major element of the Afghan settlement process, Russian Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko said.
"For instance, there is a need for coordinated efforts of NATO and the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], which has been doing an important job in the provision of security along the perimeter of Afghanistan's external borders," the senior diplomat said in an interview with Interfax in Brussels on Monday.
"We are seriously concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. The wave of terrorist attacks is still ongoing, and drug trafficking is on the rise. The latest report posted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime regarding the opium production in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2013 testifies to the unprecedented deterioration of the situation," Grushko said.
The opium yield has grown 49% and the area under opium poppy crops has been widening. It will be impossible to resolve another key security problem, terrorism, which is sponsored by drug money, without bolstering and consolidating related [anti-drug] efforts," he said.
"The continuation of interaction with NATO on the Afghan track would meet our common interests. We are discussing the possibility of carrying on and broadening cooperation projects, including the coaching of Afghan technicians, who are due to service Russian-made helicopters, and employees of drug control services of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asian countries," the Russian envoy said.
He also said that Russia was ready to assist in NATO transit to and from Afghanistan before and after 2014.
"At present, our interaction has an international legal basis, UN Security Council Resolution 1386. We advocate the development of cooperation in Afghanistan after 2014 on an equally solid foundation. And that requires a new resolution of the UN Security Council," the head of the Russian diplomatic mission to NATO concluded.