ONDCP Excel Eighty-Eighth Row

This cooperation includes not only significant efforts in Afghanistan, but also assistance programs in Africa and other regions. Where it exists, the connection between drug trafficking and terrorism is a significant transnational threat that requires interagency and international collaboration in efforts to track and address the problem. During the past year, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has implemented its new mandate that allows ISAF forces to participate in operations to break the narcotics-insurgency nexus in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin and threatens Afghan economic and governance development and the stability of the broader region. European Union member states, including the United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, and Spain, have long provided valuable maritime and aviation support to drug interdiction in the Western Hemisphere. These and other nations have joined together to establish the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics (MAOC-N) in Portugal, which seeks to coordinate international interdiction activities for targeting cocaine flowing to Europe. United States officials use several mechanisms to coordinate counterdrug priorities with Europe, most notably through the biannual United States-European Union Troika meetings and bilateral discussions with United Kingdom counterparts on counternarcotics cooperation in Afghanistan. Since NATO, the European Union, and individual European nations provide significant amounts of foreign assistance in countries where the United States also has aid programs, the Department of State, USAID, and other agencies shall seek to intensify cooperation with international partners to optimize program impact and to avoid duplication. Such cooperation can be enhanced through exchanges such as the Trans-Pacific Symposium on Dismantling Transnational Illicit Networks hosted by the Departments of State and Homeland Security in the fall of 2009, which drew participants from more than 40 countries, jurisdictions, and organizations.