US Names India Among World's 20 Drug 'Majors'

These countries have "failed demonstrably" to make substantial efforts during the previous 12 months to adhere to international counter-narcotics agreements and to take measures specified in US law, President George W Bush said in an annual report to the Congress.

Other 16 countries in the Presidential Determinations are: The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.

The report does not detail why India or Pakistan have been placed on the list, but says a country's presence on the Majors List is not necessarily an adverse reflection of its government's counter-narcotics efforts or level of cooperation with the United States, the presidential report said.

One of the reasons that major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographical, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to transit or be produced despite the concerned government's most assiduous enforcement measures, it said.