KAZAKHSTAN: JOINING FORCES WITH THE U.S. TO COMBAT ILLEGAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000203

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL, SCA/CEN , OSD FOR PIRRATANO, CENTCOM FOR MALCOM AND
ROESNER, JUSTICE FOR FBI, DHS FOR CBP DENNIS ULRICH, ROLAND
SULIVERAS, AND MARK ADAMS, HHS FOR MITCHELL-FRABLE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PREL KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: JOINING FORCES WITH THE U.S. TO COMBAT ILLEGAL
NARCOTICS SUPPLY, DEMAND, AND ADDICTION

Ref: ASTANA 128

ASTANA 00000203 001.2 OF 003



1. Summary: A senior-level Kazakhstani interagency delegation
visited Washington December 4-8 to meet with State, DHS, FBI, DOD,
DEA, HHS, DOJ, and others to discuss bilateral collaboration to
combat illegal narcotics supply, reduce societal drug demand
especially among young people, combat addiction, and improve
rehabilitation. The delegation, traveling at the invitation of INL
Assistant Secretary Anne Patterson, included representatives from
the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Defense, Education, and Health;
the Border Guard Service; the Committee for National Security;
Procurator General's Office; and a national center to combat drug
addiction. The visit resulted in concrete steps to expand
cooperation to reduce drug supply, demand, and addiction. End
summary.


2. Background: During discussions with Ambassador Ordway early in
2006, Minister of Internal Affairs Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov expressed
interest in improving Kazakhstan's counter-narcotics strategy by
engaging in bilateral discussions with U.S. experts in order to
learn from best practices. During her May visit to Kazakhstan, INL
Assistant Secretary Anne Patterson invited an interagency team to
visit Washington to meet U.S. experts in supply reduction, demand
reduction, and addiction/rehabilitation.


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DEMAND REDUCTION
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3. A December 4 roundtable discussion at State lead by Dr. Bertha
Madras, ONDCP Deputy Director for Demand Reduction, focused on the
need to attack the demand for drugs, especially by young people, on
multiple fronts using media platforms such as radio, TV, internet,
newspaper and magazines, and even text messaging on cell phones.
Madras encouraged outreach efforts targeting the anti-drug message
to schools, universities, and other hangouts. She pointed out that
in the U.S., television anti-drug spots are aimed not only at young
people but their parents. She elaborated that sports events,
musical performances, artistic exhibitions, and other cultural
events are excellent venues to broadcast the anti-drug message.


4. DEA presented its Street Smart drug use prevention program which
reaches out to state governments, local communities, and schools.
The program was a successful model of a law enforcement agency,
normally associated in the public mind with interdiction,
effectively attacking the scourge of drug use from both the demand
and the supply ends.


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ADDICT TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION
--------------


5. Changing topics to addiction, Dr. Madras outlined the U.S.
approach to drug treatment. She pointed out that in the experience
of the U.S., medicine will not help drug addicts recover without
simultaneous support from social services. She argued for the
important role of social support, saying that drug addicts should
not feel that they are social outcasts but rather that they need
treatment.


6. Dr. Katkov, Head of Faculty of Psychotherapy and Narcology of
the National Center for Applied Research on Drug Addiction in
Pavlodar, actively questioned Dr. Madras regarding U.S. use of
methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of addiction. Dr.
Madras reported that in 44 U.S. states doctors use methadone as a
substitute therapy and it is successful when combined with a social
support service.


7. Dr. Katkov and the Ministry of Education representative Uteshev
visited the office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
(SAMHSA) at the Department of Health and Human Services to discuss
the issues of narcotics addiction and psychiatry. After returning
to Kazakhstan, Katkov and Uteshev expressed interest in continuing
the dialogue with the U.S. experts on demand reduction (Reftel) and
addiction prevention and rehabilitation programs with HHS and ONDCP

ASTANA 00000203 002.2 OF 003


In addition, Katkov specifically mentioned his interest in
establishing links with the U.S. National Institute for Drug
Addiction. The goal of the dialogue is the development of
professional relations and joint action which will lead to increased
professional knowledge and improved effectiveness in these areas.


8. Based on the meeting with the Kazakhstani delegation at SAMHSA,
HHS representatives identified the following points which could form
the basis for further dialogue.

A) Develop an age-specific prevention education program ("drug
demand reduction") within schools in Kazakhstan.

B) Create programs to educate the general public that drug treatment
is a medical treatment that works (including methadone therapy).

C) Continue work to co-locate HIV treatment centers with drug
treatment centers.

D) Train primary care providers in substance abuse screening.

E) Facilitate a dialogue between the police and the community of
medical and governmental bodies that treat addiction to enhance free
and open communication. This could include mayors, school
administrators, and the medical community at large.


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SUPPLY REDUCTION
--------------


9. Michael Braun, DEA Chief of Operations, and James Soiles, Chief
of Enforcement Operations for Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and
Canada, briefed the delegation concerning the U.S. approach to
attacking drug trafficking on a global scale. Delegation members
engaged in supply reduction expressed strong interest in working
with DEA to improve interdiction in Kazakhstan.


10. During briefings at DEA headquarters, Chairman of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs Committee on Combating Narcotics Anatoliy
Vyborov put three offers on the table to develop a closer working
relationship with DEA. He offered to support broader U.S.
involvement in the Central Asia Regional Information Coordination
Center (CARICC) which is under development in Almaty. He offered to
open his Committee to any type of training that DEA could provide to
improve interdiction capacity and capability of his counter-drug
effort. He also offered to conduct joint operations in Kazakhstan
with DEA agents in order to detect, interdict, and prosecute
narcotics traffickers.


11. James Rose, DEA Chief of the Office of International Program
for countries in Central Asia expressed agreement in principle to
closer cooperation between the two services and promised to
establish coordination through the DEA office in Tashkent.


12. At the DEA meeting and other briefings in Washington Vyborov
expressed his opinion that the most significant problems that
counter-narcotics forces in Afghanistan should be addressing were
locating and destroying mobile drug producing laboratories and the
interdicting the supply of precursors such as anhydride and
hydrochloric and acetic acid. He stated that attacking these two
problems would significantly contribute to lower drug production in
Afghanistan and would thereby reduce the quantity of illegal
narcotics transiting Kazakhstan.


13. Representatives of the Office of the Secretary of Defense met
with the delegation to express their appreciation for overall GOK
cooperation on counternarcotics issues. General Abdulmanov of the
Ministry of Defense presented OSD representatives with an overview
of the delegation's purpose and expressed his pleasure with the
content of the December 4 strategy meeting and related briefings.
The OSD representatives thanked General Abdulmanov and the GOK's
continued commitment to fighting narcotics smuggling.


14. CENTCOM briefed the delegation on the role, and limitations, of
the military in the U.S. fight against the supply of drugs,
primarily from Central and South America. CENTCOM highlighted its

ASTANA 00000203 003.2 OF 003


interest in working with Kazakhstan's law enforcement community to
create a narcotics interdiction force on the Caspian.


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BORDER SECURITY AND CRIME FIGHTING
--------------


15. FBI and the Customs and Border Protection Bureau of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS/CBP) provided two examples of
U.S. best practices in combating narcotics and attendant crimes.
Both programs were viewed favorably by the delegation; post expects
future collaboration in these areas.


16. Customs and Border Protection representatives presented a
freight targeting program which uses available manufacturer,
shipper, forwarder, consignee, and multimodal transportation route
information to identify suspect containers, trucks, ships, etc. and
prepare to search them before the shipment arrives at the border
checkpoint. The system requires extensive data collection and
analysis capability, which the GOK could build over time using U.S.
experience as a basis.


17. General Utyapov of the Border Guard and Lt. Col. Didenko of the
Committee for National Security both immediately saw the utility of
the effort and praised its technological development. In
conversations on the margins, they pointed out that such a program
was not feasible for Kazakhstan in the immediate future because of
the extensive computer system necessary to establish and sustain it.
(Note: To show just how fast Kazakhstan is developing its
capabilities, on December 27 Kazakhstan announced the first
pre-cleared customs effort aimed at easing the border crossing of
inbound freight yet not sacrificing customs duty collection
efficiency. End note.)


18. During the delegation's visit to Quantico, the FBI provided a
briefing on the Global Initiatives Unit, where Kazakhstan could
multiply law enforcement effectiveness by extending data sharing of
fingerprints with the FBI. Vyborov expressed interest in
collaborating with the U.S. in this effort. The LEGATT in Embassy
Astana will follow up.


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GOK Delegation Members
--------------


19. The delegation was headed by Major General Anatoliy Vyborov,
Chairman of the Committee on Combating Drug Trafficking and
Controlling Circulation of Narcotics of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, and included Major General Shintas Utyapov, Deputy Director
of the Border Guard Service of the Committee for National Security;
Major General Almaz Abdulmanov of the Ministry of Defense;
Lieutenant Colonel German Didenko, Director of the Office of
Economic Crimes of the Committee for National Security; Shirmirbai
Agabekov, Deputy Head of the Department on Supervision of Lawfulness
of Investigation of the Procurator General's Office; Nurlan Uteshev,
Director of Department for Youth Policy of the Ministry of Education
and Science, and Doctor Professor Alexander Katkov, Acting Director
of the Kazakhstan Center of Applied Research on Drug Addiction,
Ministry of Health.

MILAS