Report - United States Department of Defense

UNCLASSIFIED
Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other U.S. government Departments and Agencies to
support the overall CN strategy for Afghanistan.
The main goal of ISAF’s CN strategy is to reduce the ability of the insurgency to draw support
from the narcotics industry. RC-S and RC-SW remained priority areas for military and law
enforcement CN efforts during the reporting period. These regions constitute principal areas for
Afghan poppy cultivation, and as such, are major sources of revenue for the Taliban-led
insurgency. DoD’s role in supporting CN operations includes building the capacity of the
Counternarcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNP-A), improving border security, promoting
information sharing, and fostering regional and international cooperation.
Despite this high operational tempo and a number of large seizures and high-profile arrests
during the reporting period, overall coalition and ANSF CN interdiction efforts have had a small
but not insignificant effect on overall insurgent profits from narcotics. However, the narcotics
market in Afghanistan is large, and insurgent penetration of that market is extensive and
expanding. CN interdiction operations in one area can be supplanted by the insurgents
increasing profits in other areas, such as donations and kidnapping for ransom.
CN interdiction operations, in addition to crop substitution, subsidies to farmers, targeted arrests,
the disruption of narcotics trafficking networks, and increased CN-focused rule of law together
have the potential to reduce significantly insurgent financing from narcotics. However, none of
these efforts individually will be able to have a major effect. The political will of the Afghan
government and the transition of security to Afghan forces remain the greatest challenges to
implementing this comprehensive CN program.
The United States published a new CN Strategy for Afghanistan in January 2013. This revision
prioritizes CN assistance during the security transition and drawdown of U.S. and coalition
combat forces. ISAF continues to assist the Afghan Government in developing its
counternarcotics capacity and capability for the eventual transition to greater Afghan
responsibility.
Although the Afghan Counter-Narcotics Judicial Center (CNJC) continues to perform admirably,
further progress is needed to reduce corruption in the justice sector and in state functions
important to transition such as border checkpoints, airports, and inland customs depots.
Nonetheless, U.S. Border Management Task Force-trained Afghan customs officials are making
significant progress in airport security at KAIA.
Counternarcotics Operations
The DEA, the CNP-A National Interdiction Unit (NIU), and ISAF maintained a high CN
operational tempo throughout the reporting period, conducting several major increasingly
Afghan-led CN operations. ISAF targeting of high-value individuals and their support zones
applied pressure on the networks and caused temporary dislocations; however, with their ability
to quickly adapt new tactics, the narcotics networks are likely to continue to function. The
concentration of raids was in northern Helmand and Nimroz; vehicle interdictions were focused
in central and southern Helmand and along the RC-SW/RC-W boundary in northern Nimroz. A
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