Lavrov perplexed by NATO unwillingness to cooperate with CSTO in combating Afghan drugs
MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cannot understand why NATO is unwilling to cooperate with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in fighting the trafficking of Afghan drugs.
"Our proposals that the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan be more effective in destroying drug crops and drug labs are facing a reserved response and concerns that this would increase threats for the troops working there," Lavrov said in a lecture for students and the faculty of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) on Saturday.
"It is absolutely incomprehensible why the NATO countries do not want to arrange cooperation between the international security forces working inside Afghanistan and the CSTO forces, which regularly conduct operations to intercept drug caravans from Afghanistan," Lavrov said.
"All professionals are convinced that such cooperation would improve the efficiency of the combat against drug trafficking," Lavrov said. "But our partners are refusing without explaining the reasons," he said.
"I think they ideologically do not want to consider our organization as one equal to the North Atlantic alliance," he said.
