VZCZCXRO6290
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #0203/01 0240153
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240153Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8264
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 0004
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ5//
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC//DHO-2//
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCJ5//
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//USDP EURASIA//
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//USDP-SOLIC-CN//
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY

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. 
 
 
---------------- 
DEMAND REDUCTION 
---------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
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. 
 
 
---------------- 
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. 
 
 
---------------------------------- 
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. 
 
 
---------------------- 
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