On 19 August, the Head of the Tajik Anti-Drug Agency, Rustam Nazarzadeh, met with the Head of Anti-Drug Programs of the US Central Command, John Povelons.

According to the Anti-Drug Agency, cooperation between the Agency and the US CENTCOM on implementing programs on fighting drugs were discussed.

The Head of the Anti-Drug Agency informed the guests about the Agency’s collaboration with the Afghan law-enforcement agencies, as well as about the joint operations “controllable delivery” and preventive activities held jointly with the ministries and agencies in Tajikistan, and with the representatives of religious confessions within the frame of the National Strategy on combating Drug Trafficking in the Republic of Tajikistan for 2013-2020.

Mr. Nazarzadeh also told the guests about the Agency’s cooperation with their Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Russian colleagues, and about their joint operations.

The Director of the Agency underlined that in the current situation, Tajik law-enforcement agencies are in need of professional training and retraining of the Agency specialists, especially in the area of combating “money laundering” of the money received from drug trafficking and on operational analysis.

The issues of building office buildings of the Agency in Jirgatal and Darvaz districts was also discussed.

The guests expressed satisfaction about the level of cooperation between the Agency and the Anti-Drug Program of the US Central Command.