OSCE, DoD, German MoD talk trafficking, disrupting networks

Photo By Aryn Lockhart | This is a graphic for the story "OSCE, Marshall Center partner for Central Asia border security event."  

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, BY, GERMANY

09.04.2013

Story by Jason Tudor 

George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – Enhancing the capacity to disrupt networks of transnational drug, human and other illicit traffickers in Central Asia takes center stage at a seminar that began Sept. 3 at the Defense Department's George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

With the notion of countering illicit trafficking and improving border security, the Regional Seminar on Border Security and Counter Illicit Trafficking in Central Asia drew 40 experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, U.S., NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation. Afghanistan, China and Pakistan also look to figure into the three days of discussion. The seminar is co-organized by the Marshall Center and the OSCE.

Marshall Center professors and their OSCE colleagues are hoping to assist countries build capacity to stop threats like terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics trafficking and other transnational threats.

“The goal of this program is to increase the ability of Central and South Asian states to guard their borders, preserve sovereignty, and interdict transnational threats by increasing inter-ministerial and inter-regional cooperation on the matter of border security and transnational threats,” said Dr. Greg Gleason, program director for Central Asia nonresident programs at the Marshall Center, a German Ministry of Defense and U.S. DOD partnership..

Participants are representatives of each country’s border police, customs, gendarmerie, counter-narcotics personnel and criminal-intelligence units concerned with border security or narcotics trafficking issues.

Gleason said through cooperation with the OSCE Transnational Threats Department/Borders Unit, the seminar includes speakers from Albania, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

“The seminar will consider the ongoing ISAF transition in Afghanistan, including the drawdown of international forces in Afghanistan, as well as the potential impact these factors have on border security and other transnational threats throughout Central Asia,” said Dr. Jack Clarke, Marshall Center professor and adviser for the event. “Particular attention throughout the seminar will be paid to counterdrug measures.”

The event ends Sept. 5.

• Date Taken: 09.04.2013
• Date Posted: 09.04.2013 02:55
• Story ID: 113045
• Location: GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, BY, DE