Russian and U.S. special forces have carried out their first joint anti-narcotics operation in Afghanistan that marked the first time Russian security personnel set foot in that country in more than 20 years.
In a joint raid on four heroin laboratories near the border with Pakistan, Russian and U.S. forces seized $250-million worth of narcotics, Russia's anti-narcotics agency chief Viktor Ivanov told a press conference in Moscow on Friday. Damage inflicted on Afghan drug mafia amounted to $1 billion.
Russia provided intelligence information about the laboratories and 70 Russian officers helped prepare the operation. Mr. Ivanov said four Russian officers took part in the raid itself to smash the drug ring. He suggested that Moscow may send additional drug control officers to Afghanistan and train Afghan anti-narcotics personnel.
The operation marked Russia's return to Afghanistan for the first time since the Russian Army pulled out from the country in 1989 after a 10-year war. So far Moscow has consistently rejected sending its troops to Afghanistan, limiting assistance to supply of helicopters and provision of transport corridors.
“This is graphic evidence of an ongoing reset in Russian-American relations, and there is potential to do much more,” said the Russian drug control chief.
