Bolstering Counter-Narcotics training
On 14-15 December 2010, experts from NATO, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) undertook the expansion of their counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Meeting for the first time since the Lisbon Summit, participants welcomed Pakistan’s first participation since it joined the project in September 2010. They also welcomed the addition of the St Petersburg North West Training Institute as one of the training centers for Afghan, Pakistani and Central Asian counter-narcotics personnel.
Work in 2011 will focus primarily on increasing training capacity in the participating countries and developing specialised curricula to best meet trainees’ needs.
Created in December 2005, the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) counter-narcotics training project has a tangible impact on the overall counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan and Central Asia. More than 1,300 personnel from the region have been trained to date. Pakistani trainees took part in a course at the Turkish Academy against Drugs and Organised Crime in Ankara and at the Domodedovo Centre in Moscow in early December of this year.