U.S. Drug War Expands to Africa, a Newer Hub for Cartels

Source: New York Times

U.S. Drug War Expands to Africa, a Newer Hub for Cartels
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and THOM SHANKER
Published: July 21, 2012

WASHINGTON — In a significant expansion of the war on drugs, the United States has begun training an elite unit of counternarcotics police in Ghana and planning similar units in Nigeria and Kenya as part of an effort to combat the Latin American cartels that are increasingly using Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe.

The growing American involvement in Africa follows an earlier escalation of antidrug efforts in Central America, according to documents, Congressional testimony and interviews with a range of officials at the State Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pentagon.

In both regions, American officials are responding to fears that crackdowns in more direct staging points for smuggling — like Mexico and Spain — have prompted traffickers to move into smaller and weakly governed states, further corrupting and destabilizing them.

The aggressive response by the United States is also a sign of how greater attention and resources have turned to efforts to fight drugs as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have wound down.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/world/africa/us-expands-drug-fight-in-africa.html?_r=1&ref=world