US TROOPS TO JOIN THAI FIGHT AGAINST MYANMAR DRUGS

BANGKOK, Thailand: About 20 US soldiers will train a special Thai task
force in anti-drug operations in the most important American involvement in
the fight to stem the enormous flow of drugs from Myanmar, a news magazine
reported.

The American soldiers from the 1st Special Forces Group will join the Thai
Task Force 399 as instructors from October, the Far Eastern Economic Review
said in its latest April 19 issue made available on Saturday.

In addition to the US soldiers, the task force will comprise 100 Thai
Special Forces men, two infantry companies of about 100 men each and 100
Border Patrol Police, the Review said, quoting unidentified Thai and
foreign security officials.

Bangkok's Nation newspaper also published a similar report on Saturday,
quoting an unidentified officer of the 3rd Army, which operates in northern
Thailand bordering Myanmar, or Burma.

Thai and US Embassy officials could not be immediately reached because of
the weekend and the Thai New Year national holiday.

Thailand has declared drugs, especially the synthetic stimulant
methamphetamines smuggled from Myanmar, as the biggest national security
problem. Anti-narcotics officials estimate that up to 800 million
methamphetamines tablets are expected to flood the country this year.

The formation of the task force with American involvement is likely to
further strain the uneasy Thai-Myanmar ties. Thailand accuses Myanmar of
not doing enough to stop the United Wa State Army, an ethnic rebel group in
Myanmar known to operate drug laboratories along the Thai border. The Wa,
which once used to fight for independence, signed a cease-fire with the
Myanmar government and is now aligned with the ruling military junta.

The Review said Task Force 399 will confront drug traffickers in Thailand
only and the US Special Forces men will only be instructors.

"The US military has mounted low-level military training missions in
Thailand under a program called Baker Torch for several years. But the new,
more secretive Task Force 399 involvement will be its most important in the
kingdom," the Review said.

It quoted Thai security officials as saying that the task force will have
the latest night-vision and radar equipment, backed by two American-made
Black Hawk helicopters.

According to the US State Department, Myanmar currently accounts for
approximately 80 percent of Southeast Asia's opium production, and 20 per
cent of the world's production, second only to Afghanistan.

It says 20 per cent of the heroin sold in the United States comes from
Myanmar, principally from "autonomous" areas of Myanmar controlled by
groups such as the United Wa State Army.

Myanmar says it has its own national masterplan aimed at eliminating drugs
by 2014, and that a significant decline in opium production has already
been achieved.