Project Proposal for Afghan-Turkish

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001977

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INL
VIENNA FOR U.S. MISSION TO UNODC

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR EAID TU AF
SUBJECT: Project Proposal for Afghan-Turkish
Counternarcotics Training

Ref: Ankara 1414

This is an action request.


1. (SBU) Summary: As discussed reftel, Post, working with
the Regional DEA office in Ankara and Kabul, has developed
the following proposal for enhancing Turkish-Afghan
counternarcotics cooperation. The training, to be led by
DEA's training team, would entail bringing together Afghan
and Turkish investigators to do case studies on joint, cross-
border investigations, in order to build both capacity and
Turkish-Afghan law enforcement relationships, taking
advantage of Ankara's good training facility, and
recognizing that Turkey is the principal transshipment point
for Afghan-derived opiates. End Summary.

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Background
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2. (SBU) Turkey is the single most important route for
transshipment of opiates from Afghanistan to world markets.
Both Turkey and Afghanistan are open to strengthened
cooperation. Such cooperation against cross-border cases
would increase disruption of international traffickers'
ability to move opiates from Afghanistan to Europe. DEA
cooperates extensively with Turkish law enforcement on
counternarcotics but has been hampered in recent years by
the absence of USG counternarcotics assistance to Turkey due
to Leahy Amendment concerns.


3. (SBU) In addition to reinforcing U.S. law enforcement's
relations with Turkish law enforcement agencies, a joint
training project would also take advantage of Ankara's
excellent TADOC training facility, while enjoying the cost
savings of conducting training in the region. The project
would build relationships between Turkish and Afghan law
enforcement personnel, facilitating their cooperation and
take advantage of Turkish law enforcement's relatively
greater expertise to expose Afghan law enforcement to
Turkish experience in counternarcotics case work.

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Project Description
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4. (SBU) The project would entail bringing U.S. trainers
from DEA's Afghan Training Team to Turkey to conduct a one-
week workshop on joint, cross-border investigations, with
Turkish and Afghan law enforcement officers. As the DEA
Afghan Training Team will be in Kabul from June through
October 2006, the cost of these trainers' travel would be
less than if they came directly from the U.S. DEA agents
stationed in Ankara would also support the training, as
would Turkish police trainers. Trainees would consist of
between 10-20 Afghan law enforcement personnel and 10-20
Turkish police investigators. The course would provide
practical case studies of joint investigations, and enable
participants to absorb lessons learned, share experiences
and learn from the trainers' experience.

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Funding
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5. (SBU) We estimate the total cost to be approximately
$60,000. This includes the trainers' and Afghan
participants' travel and per diem, simultaneous translation
between English and Turkish and from English to Pashto,
lunch and coffee breaks for all participants and course
materials and other incidental expenses. Though we do not
yet have a commitment from the Turkish authorities, our
experience with TADOC suggests there would be no charge for
the use of TADOC's training facilities, and that the Turkish
National Police would cover out-of-town Turkish participants
lodging and per diem. In addition to monies allocated to USG
counternarcotics programs in Afghanistan, we note that the
remaining balance available for Turkey counternarcotics
programs is $57,719, and we would welcome use of a portion
of these monies to fund a collaborative U.S.-Afghan-Turkish
effort.

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ANKARA 00001977 002 OF 002


Goal/Performance Measures
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6. (SBU) The goal of this project is to enhance the
investigative abilities of both Turkish and Afghan
investigators, to increase their willingness to cooperate
internationally on joint cases, and to build relationships
between the two countries' law enforcement agencies. This
would play a significant role in fostering real Turkish-
Afghan collaboration on counternarcotics issues and toward
stemming the trafficking of Afghan drugs through their
country. A secondary goal would be to show our support for
Turkish law enforcement's counternarcotics efforts in order
to help sustain their good cooperation with U.S. law
enforcement.

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Sustainability
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7. (SBU) DEA-sponsored courses promote extended interaction
with DEA Special Agents in the region which facilitates
later contact by DEA agents based in Turkey on joint
investigations, both with DEA and with Afghanistan. Turkish
law enforcement in general, and the Turkish National Police
in particular, have greatly strengthened the effectiveness
of their efforts against narcotics trafficking. This means
that they make good use of a training such as the proposed
project, integrating the skills learned into an existing,
reasonably effective framework. It would also improve their
cooperation with Afghan counterparts through both the skills
learned and the relationships forged. On the Afghan side,
where there is a tremendous need for improved investigative
skills, the training will be a major boost to both the
Afghans skills and to the likelihood of them cooperating
internationally on cross-border cases.


8. (SBU) Post has not yet consulted with Turkish law
enforcement on this proposal and would appreciate the
Department's feedback before doing so.

Wilson