ajik authorities have decided to cope with guarding their border on their own, Ren TV said. The following is the text of a report from Ren TV's "Military Secret" programme broadcast on 6 June. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

“[Presenter] Russian positions in Tajikistan have unexpectedly been shaken. Dushanbe has decided to stop using Russian border guards and we have a shocking prediction: the legendary 201st Motor-Rifle Division may cease to exist. What lies behind Dushanbe's desire to put an end to Russia's military presence? Our correspondent Boris Kurdin, who has just returned from the Tajik-Afghan border, reports.

[Correspondent] This caravan has been awaited for a long time. Its cargo? Thirty kilograms of pure heroin. It is being escorted by just a few guards who are confident of going unpunished. Crossing the Afghan-Tajik border, they calmly descended into the valley with no expectation at all of being ambushed by Russian border guards. [Video shows border guards leaping out of grass to capture group] The interception of the group happened with lightning speed. The drug traffickers didn't have time to fire a single shot.

Background on the border

Russian border guards have patrolled this section of the border for over 100 years. Or, to be more precise, used to patrol it. In the summer, all 1,500 km of the border will come under the full control of Tajikistan. Few people know that Tajik border guards currently patrol only 73 km of the border on their own, on the Tajik side. In Afghanistan the notion of a border still doesn't exist.

[Vladimir Kvachkov, former commander of 15th Brigade of Main Directorate of Intelligence's (GRU) special forces] In Tajikistan, there are 2m Tajiks but in Afghanistan there are 4m of them [figures as received]. In Afghanistan, there are 10m Pashtuns and in Pakistan there are 20m of them. They are divided by the Durand Line drawn by the British in the 19th century. They were cut right down the middle. These days, for Pashtuns a border post is just a signpost at which a camel should turn left, nothing more.

Heroin production

[Correspondent] According to the UN's statistics, 80,000 ha in Afghanistan have been sown with this poison - opium poppies - this year. Experts estimate that last year over 3,500 t of this white death were harvested. Intriguingly, the growth in heroin production was facilitated by the war against the Taleban. One has to give them credit for the fact that under their regime heroin was forbidden. Secret production yielded only a few tonnes. In defeating the Taleban, the USA merely facilitated the uncontrolled production of heroin. High-ranking Pentagon officials always stress at their briefings that their mission in Afghanistan is just to fight terrorism, and nothing more.

[Kvachkov] For some reason they don't talk about this. Around 200 US soldiers have been arrested in Europe for dealing in drugs. Around 200. The drugs flew through Russia on US aircraft.

[Correspondent] This is no exaggeration. The truth is even more alarming. The [Russian] secret services say that this is not corruption at the top of the Pentagon, but a well-planned operation. The current scandalous situation, which is capable of blowing away the entire US top leadership, was planned before the US invasion of Afghanistan. The strings controlling this operation stretch to Langley, the headquarters of the CIA.

Markets for Afghan heroin

[Unidentified former secret service agent] When the euro is rising against the dollar, causing the US economy to weaken, and the leaders of united Europe are talking more and more often about the need to slightly, or maximally, limit US influence on political and economic processes in their countries, and when Russia has become more stable and has begun to recover its lost position in the international arena, suddenly there is a powerful surge of drugs.

[Correspondent] The US soldiers who were arrested in Europe are unlikely to be involved in the operation itself. More likely, they were too greedy not to fill their pockets from the flow of drug money that is not subject to taxes in any country. They probably won't be allowed to live long enough to go to court, as once they start talking, they will cast light on the smooth system of financing international terrorism: the very terrorism that the White House claims to be fighting fiercely against.

[Unidentified former secret service agent] One thing you can't accuse the Americans of is being bad businessmen. They did a classic thing. First, they created an Albanian enclave in Europe using NATO, i.e., they secured the market, then they started to deal with the producers. They created extremely comfortable conditions for the producers.

Russian foothold in Central Asia

[Correspondent] Russian border guards and the 201st Division deployed in Tajikistan have always been an obstacle to the CIA implementing its plans. Their activities to seize caravans of heroin hindered [the CIA] so much that under pressure from the USA, the Tajik authorities have decided to cope with guarding the border on their own. Troops from the Tajik State Border Protection Committee will now replace the Russian border guards. It is most likely that after the withdrawal of the Russian border guards, the issue of closing down the Russian military base will arise soon. This base is the last foothold of the Russian presence in Central Asia. There is no room to pull back further.

[Kvachkov] As soon as Russia offers another style of life or another political system that helps all small ethnic groups in Russia survive and preserve themselves in Russia, then we shall be respected. Only then. The answer to the question of when Russia will restore its influence in Dushanbe and Central Asia in general lies here in Moscow, in the Kremlin, unfortunately.

[Presenter] We should add that this material does not reflect an official point of view on the problem but only represents our scenario for the possible development of events based on an analysis of open sources. It is not a secret that US troops sometimes bring drugs back from the war, although not always for sale. Drug addiction is a big problem for the US army, which has to fight too much these days.”

[Video shows people walking and riding donkeys, Russian border guards detaining drug traffickers, barbed wire, poppy fields, heroin production facilities, bags with heroin, US military, US military base and hardware, an operation to seize drugs in a European country, Russian military burning drugs, Tajik border troops, interviews]

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