Likening the scourge of terrorism to the dengue fever swamping huge swathes of the country, Russia’s top counter-terrorism expert says breeding grounds must be destroyed if the disease has to be stamped out, IANS agency reports.

“It won’t help if doctors cure some afflicted patients or if a few mosquitoes are killed through fumigation. You have to dry up the swamps and fertile grounds that they (mosquitoes) best breed. Similarly, if terror networks are to be disabled, then one has to hit out at the areas they come from,” said A.E. Safonov, President Vladmir Putin’s special representative on terrorism and transnational organised crime.

“Everyone must be wary of Islamic radicalization and the groundswell of sympathy that terror networks have been able to generate,” Safonov told IANS in an interview.

In Delhi as part of the Indo-Russia joint working group discussions on counter-terrorism, Safonov minces no words when he says that cooperation among countries is woefully inadequate to combat the scope of the threat.

“There are double standards on the definition of a terrorist itself. There is no such thing as a good Taliban and a bad one. But what many fail to realize is the threat posed by the Al Qaeda,” he maintained.

“This network has breached boundaries, has got past security networks in countries and is now self-starting.”

In his view, the continuing theatre of war played out in Iraq and the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan with the rise of the residual Taliban elements are ominous signs.

Safonov believes that several countries face ’a real and present danger’ of further suicide bombings and there should be no room for complacency amongst the police and intelligence establishment.

However, Safonov’s primary concern is on the issue of terror financing and his attention is immediately directed to Afghanistan, which he believes is on the verge of being declared a ’narcotics state’.

“Cartelisation is in the final stages and none of the programs initiated by the government to stop poppy cultivation have worked. In fact, it has just had the opposite effect and has increased exponentially,” said Safonov.

“Unfortunately, President Hamid Karzai’s writ has not worked. He has only expressed the will to fight drug cartels but both he and the US do not have the wherewithal to take the drug lords head on.”

This year, Russian intelligence reports indicate a bumper crop of 6,200 tonnes of opium of which 15 percent will transit through Russia for various destinations in Europe. A good part will also transit India for other destinations and Safonov says that authorities have to be vigilant and it is in this arena that cooperation is vital.

Referring to the 7/11 serial bombings in Mumbai, Safonov believes that Indian investigators had done a creditable job by cracking the case and zeroing in on the terror trail.

’India has faced terrorism much before the twin tower attacks of Sep 11, 2001. The enemy was not born on 9/11. He stood and delivered and everyone ignored the signals. That is why I stress on cooperation in every way to combat terror.’

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